During the visit, customs issues relating to the international movement of Italian Air Force materials and the evolution of EU legislation were addressed.
Upon arriving at the Logistics Area of the Cameri Airport Command, located in the Veveri district of Novara, Eng. Masetti was welcomed by the Commander of the 1st Aircraft Maintenance Group, Lieutenant Colonel Francesco De Simone, who outlined the specific and unique activities under the Group's remit, with particular reference to the movement of materials relating to the Tornado and Eurofighter weapon systems both within the EU and outside it, as well as the role played by the 1st Aircraft Maintenance Group as a “Transhipment Depot” within the aforementioned multinational programmes.
There was also no shortage of references to the temporary export procedure using the so-called “Form 302 IT”, which saw the 1st G.R.S. among the first units of the Armed Forces to use the new customs form during the trial introduced a year ago by the Customs Agency in coordination with the Joint Operations Headquarters (C.O.I.) in order to simplify the movement of Defence equipment during training events abroad and thus respond more effectively to the pressing needs of operational units deployed outside national borders.
To seal the special significance that the visit represented for the 1st G.R.S., Eng. Masetti signed the Roll of Honour and received the traditional Unit crest.
The 1st GRS is integrated into the Support Services system of the A.M. Logistics Command, under the direct subordination of the Fiumicino Technical Supply Centre, with tasks relating to the receipt, dispatch, distribution and customs clearance of material originating from abroad and of military programmes also acquired on foreign soil. Since the 1990s, representatives of the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe and the Ejercito del Aire have operated at the unit, established following the introduction of the Tornado Weapon System and the launch of the Eurofighter programme.
