Lieutenant General Silvano “Fritz” FRIGERIO

Commander of the Italian Air Force Education and Training Command Italian Air Force

Since 12th January 2022, Lt. Gen. Silvano “Fritz” Frigerio has taken command as Commander of the Italian Air Force Education and Training Command/3rd Air Region in Bari with its 4 Training Wings, 5 Departments (4 out of 5 are located abroad), more than 100 training military airplanes, 8 E&T Institutions. It governs more than 5.000 military and civilian personnel who train approximately 2000 students per year. Prior to assuming his current position, Gen. Frigerio was Vice Commander of the Italian Joint Operations Headquarters (ITA-JOHQ) in Rome from July 2020 and, then, Commander of ITA-JOHQ from October 2021 until the end of the same year. Gen. Frigerio joined the Air Force in 1982. After receiving his wings, he was assigned to the 5th Wing in Rimini AFB as a DCA NATO Combat Ready Pilot and he later became Chief of the Training Section, taking care of the operational education of the pilots assigned to the unit. In 1993, when the Squadron’s F-104s were replaced by Tornado aircraft, he moved to Ghedi AFB becoming also Instructor Pilot on the new aircraft and he served as Wing Operations OIC and 102nd Squadron Commander. In June 2003, he took up the position of Cadets’ Commander at the Air Force Academy, where he gained expertise both in Officers’ recruitment and education sectors. In 2005 he was appointed as 6th Wing Commander at Ghedi AFB. In September 2007 he was assigned to the Air Force General Staff, Air & Space Plans Division as Chief of Operational Capabilities Office, in charge of force generation process and initial operations planning. Later, as Chief of General Planning & Transformation Office, he was in charge of defining the future structure and planning the forthcoming capabilities of the Air Force and, at the same time, responsible for the contribution to the NATO planning process. Additionally, he chaired an IT-US Working Group aimed at the deployment of a US Global Hawk detachment at Sigonella AB and at the employment of the US UAVs in Italy. In 2011, he took the position of Deputy Chief of the Plans and Policy Division of the Defence General Staff, initially in charge for Alliances Policy and Operations strategic direction and later, responsible for general planning of Italian Armed Forces. Moreover, he represented the Chief of Defence Staff within the NATO High Level Group. From 2016 to 2019, he was appointed as Air Force Combat Forces Commander, responsible for ensuring the operational readiness of assigned units, to include the update of plans and procedures, standardization of the entire training activity, and the full availability of weapon systems, equipment and infrastructures. In addition, from July 2017 to July 2020 he was also Commander of the 1st Air Region in Milan and from September 2019 to July 2020 he was appointed as Chief of the Air Force General Financial Administration Department. His operational assignments include all the Balkans operations from 1995 through the first half of 2000 (Joint Guard, Joint Forge, Decisive Endeavour, Allied Force), and Operation Unified Protector in Libya, where in 2011 he served as Targeting Directorate Chief, Combined Joint Task Force Unified Protector Headquarters in Naples. Lt. Gen. Frigerio is a Command Pilot with more than 3000 flying hours on ten different kinds of aircrafts, including 170 combat hours.