Mario Arpino


Mario Arpino is a retired Italian Air Force general. He played an important role during the Air Campaign of Gulf War, he also help the Coilation to liberate Kuwait. He served the army till 2001 and became the President of the Vitrociset company in 2012.

Early life

Mario Arpino was born in Tarvisio on July 20, 1937. He attended the "Rostro" course at the Italian Air Force Academy from 1956 - 59 and received a military pilot's licence from Amendola Jet Training School in 1960.

Military career

After his seven-year tenure with the 51st Wing in Istrana, the fighter-interceptor pilot of the 21st and 22nd Groups became the Commander of the 551st Squadron. In 1967, he was transferred to the 53rd Wing at Cameri. He got promoted to colonel in 1973 and assumed command of the 71st Flight Group as well as the radio measurement department. The following year, he became a colonel and still moved to the Air Force General Staff, where he worked in different section chief positions. In 1977, he was stationed at the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa, where he was first the commander of the Flight Department, then the deputy commander and subsequently the acting commander of the brigade.
He was sent to General Staff again and in 1982 he became an air brigadier general. He was appointed to the 3rd “Plans, Operations, Training and Flight Safety” Department first as the deputy chief and then as the head. In 1987, he got promoted to air division general and took command at the Air Force Academy in Pozzuoli, later becoming the deputy commander of the 2nd Air Region. He was in charge of the air coordination unit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the Gulf War from October 1990 to March 1991. He was promoted to the rank of General in the Air Force in 1991 and for more than three years served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He was the commander of the 1st Air Region from July 1994 to June 1995.
He was the Chief of Staff of the Air Force from June 4, 1995, to February 5, 1999, when he became Chief of Defence Staff, a position he occupied until March 31, 2001. After his retirement from active duty, he was appointed president of Vitrociset a company that he ran until 2012. Besides being a member of the steering committee in the Institute of International Affairs and the Italy–USA Foundation, he is an honorary citizen of Campoformido.