Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone was born in Arquata Scrivia (AL) on 28 February 1957. After graduating from high school at the Andrea Doria Institute in Novi Ligure, he entered the Naval Academy in October 1976 to follow the Normal Course for Staff Officers. In June 1980, he completed his academic period and, after a brief period aboard the Frigate Orsa, he was sent to the U.S. Navy’s flight schools in Florida and Texas where, after about a year, he obtained his fixed-wing (multi-propeller) aircraft pilot’s licence and, after a further six months, his helicopter pilot’s licence. Returning to Italy in September 1981, he was embarked as an AB-212 helicopter pilot on the destroyer Ardito during the deployment of MMI units in Lebanese waters. At the end of this activity, he remained on board Mistral class frigates as a helicopter pilot, holding the position of Chief of the Flight Service until August 1987, when he took command, at the rank of Lieutenant, of the Cacciamine Milazzo with which, from September \u201887 to March \u201988, he participated in the first mission in the Persian Gulf. At the end of his period of Command, he was transferred to the Helicopter Station in Luni (SP) to transition to the SH-3D helicopter. After a short time, upon approval of the law that allowed the Navy to acquire its own combat aircraft to be embarked on the aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, he was sent back to the United States to obtain his licence on conventional embarked fighters, make the transition to the AV8-B vertical take-off and landing aircraft (Harrier), obtain the qualification of \u2018combat ready\u2019 at the U. S. Marine Corps operational squadrons, and command the U. S. Marine Corps operational squadrons. S. Marine Corps, command the first nucleus of Italian pilots and technicians in training in the U.S.A. for the Navy’s newly-formed jet component. During this period, he obtained his carrier jet aircraft landing certificate in January 1990 in Florida and his jet pilot’s licence in Mississippi in August 1990. After the delivery of the first two Harrier aircraft to the Navy in May 1991 in North Carolina (U.S.A.), he and his team prepared the return to Italy of the component, which was picked up by Nave Garibaldi in U.S. waters in September of the same year.
He was the first Commander of the Embarked Aircraft Group (September 1991 – September 1993).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For another year, he was again sent to Arizona to conduct specific training on a Harrier model for night combat and the combat radar version of the aircraft. Upon his return from the United States, he was assigned to Naval Squadron Headquarters, where he served as operations and training officer for the embarked air component. After about a year, he attended the School of War (Maritime Warfare Institute) in Livorno and the Interforce Staff Institute in Rome. In September 1996, with the rank of Frigate Captain, he was assigned command of the Frigate Euro, based in Taranto, and after a year returned to command the Embarked Aircraft Group in Grottaglie (TA). From 27 September 2002 to 16 October 2004, he was Commander of the Portaeromobili Giuseppe Garibaldi. From 13 December 2004 to 24 June 2005, he attended the 56th session of the Istituto Alti Studi della Difesa. He obtained a degree in Defence and Security Sciences in December 2002 from the University of Pisa and a degree in Political Science in October 2005 from the University of Trieste. From 27 October 2005 to 5 September 2008, he served as Commander of the Navy Air Force and Head of the 6th Aircraft Department of the Naval Staff. From 11 September 2008 to 12 October 2011, he was Commander of the Italian Navy’s Diving and Incursion Regiment. From 13 October 2011 to 17 October 2014, he was Commander of the Naval Academy. On 24 January 2012, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations at the Court of Grosseto, Dr. Valeria Montesarchio, issued an order for the admission of evidence in the Criminal Proceedings relating to the \u2018Costa Concordia Motor Shipwreck occurred on 13 January 2012 off the Island of Giglio\u2019, appointing Admiral CAVO DRAGONE as \u2018GIP expert witness\u2019 and Head of the same Board of Experts. The appointment was confirmed on 10 December 2013 in the subsequent phase of the criminal proceedings by the College chaired by Dr. Giovanni Puliatti, until the end of the trial. From 3 November 2014 to 26 June 2016, he held the position of Interforce Commander for Special Forces Operations (C.O.F.S.).From 1 July 2016, he took up the post of Interforce Summit Operations Commander. (Since September 2002, with only one brief interruption of six months to attend the 56th session of the I.A.S.D., he has been in command of Navy and Inter-Forces operational and summit bodies, thus boasting a continuous period of more than three lustra. He has over 2,500 flight hours between helicopters and fighter jets to his credit. Although with some \u2018rust\u2019, he holds the title of black belt 1st Dan in Shotokan style Karate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 22 June 2019 to 5 November 2021 he held the position of Chief of the Naval Staff. Since 6 November 2021 he has held the position of Chief of Defence Staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22336,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n