General Vicenzo Camporini, the current Air Force Chief of Staff, has been appointed to be the next Chief of Defense Staff in place of Admiral Giampaola Di Paola, who is set to become chairman of NATO's Military Committee.
General Camporini's appointment was made by the government on recommendation of Defense Minister Arturo Parisi.
The new defense chief will assume his new post on February 12.
Admiral Di Paola will begin his duties at NATO next June. He will serve as chief military advisor to NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, liaising with NATO chiefs of defense and overseeing NATO operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
Aside from being the Military Committee's chief representative, Admiral Di Paola will also be the senior military spokesperson for the Alliance in contacts with media.
Born in 1946, General Camporini joined the Air Force Academy in 1965 where graduated in 1969. He served mainly as a F-104 RECCE pilot with the 3rd Wing in Villafranca (Verona), where he commanded the 28th Squadron right after the graduation at the NATO Defence College in 1977 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
From 1983 to 1985 he was Aide-de Camp to the Chief of Staff and with the rank of Colonel (1985) he served in the ''Weapon Systems Research and Development'' Office.
In 1988 he commanded the Air Force Flight Test Centre and represented Italy to the Aerospace Application Study Committee of AGARD.
In the Air Force Staff he served as chief of ''New Weapon Systems Technical Development'', including EFA, and was Italian Representative in the NAEW program; as Brigadier General, from 1993, he directed the ''Plans, Operations and Training'' Division and in 1996 was ''Inspector of the Aviation for the Navy''.
As Major General, he has been appointed as ''Inspector for Flight Safety'' and Chief of the 3rd Division of the Defence General Staff ''Military Policy, International Affairs, Armament Control and Civil Defence''.
On April 20th 2001, with the rank of Lt. General, took up the position of Deputy Chief of Defence General Staff until February 29th 2004 when was designated as President of the Italian Centre for High Defence Studies.
General Camporini was made the Air Force Chief of Staff in the Italian Air Force on September 20th of that year.
General Camporini is a command pilot with experience in 24 different aircraft including F-104, Tornado, AMX, heavy transport aircraft and helicopters.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
His awards and decorations include the Long Navigation Medal, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Commandeur of the Order of Merit of the French Republic, Santos Dumont Medal to the Merit of the Republic of Brazil, the Italian Defence General Staff Decoration of Honour, and the Diploma Paul Tissandier awarded by the Federation Aeronatique International.
