Italian Navy discloses Maritime Counter-Terrorism Training and more SF activities

With the rising concern about sabotages to critical infrastructures at sea, terrorism and maritime security, the training activities and participation to operations of the Italian Navy special forces operational group known as Gruppo Operativo Incursori (GOI), have surfaced in more occasions in the recent past. The GOI together with the Divers Operational Group (GOS), represent the two souls of the COMSUBIN (COmando raggruppamento SUBacquei e INcursori) “Teseo Tesei” command based in the Gulf of La Spezia.  

In late 2025, the Italian Navy acknowledges the conclusion of two Maritime Counter-Terrorism Training activities conducted every year, the “Gold Finger” and “Black Shadow” exercises carried out between last October and November, in addition to the conduction of the annual joint exercise “Delfino (Dolphin)” between GOI personnel and the Submarine Component of the Italian Navy. These activities followed a Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery (MCADS) training activity in July and the participation to the Joint Special Force Operation Command annual exercise “Gazza Ladra” in April of this year, based on the Italian MoD and Navy statements. More often, the participation of the GOI personnel to national and international operations is also acknowledged.

Italian Navy maintains a high and continuous level of readiness to respond rapidly to events that threaten the freedom of merchant traffic and lines of communication. “An attack on a commercial ship or an offshore platform is not an isolated incident, but a systemic risk capable of blocking routes, interrupting energy flows, and striking at the economic core of a nation”, commented the Italian Navy in a recent press statement.  

The “Gold Finger” exercise simulated an assault on the ENI energy company’s offshore platform in the Upper Adriatic while the “Black Shadow” exercise reproduces a crisis scenario aboard a cruise ship sailing in the Lower Adriatic. In the past the first exercise also saw the participation of the San Marco Marine Brigade combat support personnel. In the second exercise an unidentified MSC Cruises cruise ship was involved but the same happens also with platforms provided by the Costa Cruises.

Interestingly the Italian Navy also acknowledged a US Navy SEAL operators team was also integrated into the offshore platform assault, “as part of bilateral cooperation and interoperability programs.”

“Both were carried out by the GOI”, according to the Italian Navy, “with the decisive support of the Fleet Command, its helicopter assets, the UNPAV Tedeschi, an IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) team from the GOS, and a P-72A (maritime patrol) aircraft from the (Italian Air Force) 41st Wing in Sigonella, with a mixed Navy–Air Force crew.”

The UNPAV (Unità Navale Polivalente ad Alta Velocità) or High-Speed Multi-Mission Ship Tullio Tedeschi is part of the COMSUBIN Special Naval Group also including its sister and first-of-class Angelo Cabrini, Marino and Pedretti divers support vessels and the Anteo Submarine Rescue Ship.

Images accompanying the press statement show a Naval Aviation Leonardo AW-101 in the amphibious and special forces support version delivering GOI operators with fast ropes on board the cruise ship, while IEDD operators of GOS were showed operating on an offshore support vessel. In both cases, based on previous statements, the command and control of all the asset involved the operations is carried out by a team of selected operators of the GOI, which in addition to manage the operation at tactical level, also provides the link with the overhead Command.

In late November 2025, the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Defence, Matteo Perego di Cremnago acknowledged his participation to the annual exercise “Delfino” (Dolphin) when the GOI personnel trains with the Submarine component of the Italian Navy, in the specific case a U212A AIP boat according to released images.

With the MCT exercise conducted in July 2025, the GOI maintains the proficiency in the projection and insertion capability called Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System (MCADS). This allows to reach the area of operations using free fall parachuting from a C130J transport aircraft along with a Zodiac Hurricane 7.33 rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), which is also air-dropped on a specific PURIBAD platform (Platform Universal, Rigid Inflatable Boat Aerial Delivery). In the exercise scenario involving a Hostage Release Operation (HRO) on an Italian merchant vessel seized in international waters far from the mainland, a GOI assault team, consisting of a Special Operations Task Unit (SOTU) with the PURIBAD-carried RHIB, took off from Pisa military airport onboard an 46th Air Brigade C130J aircraft of the Italian Air Force to reach the Gulf of La Spezia and conduct the free fall parachuting alongside the PURIBAD-carried RHIB.

This is made possible by the essential contributions of the 46th Air Brigade of the Italian Air Force, with its aircraft and flight crews qualified for heavy load airdrop, and the personnel of the Italian Army Folgore Paratroopers Brigade. The latter personnel from its Parachute Training Centre’s (CAPAR) Air Battalion, handle the delicate and complex phases of preparing the platform-RHIB system for paradropping.

Thanks to this capability, the GOI can intervene anywhere with maximum speed, especially with the support of Italian Navy air-naval assets that might be present in the area of operations, crucial for supporting special operations in the maritime domain. A dedicated and organic naval support capability will be gained by COMSUBIN in 2027, when the new Special and Diving Operations – Submarine Rescue Ship (SDO-SuRS) Olterra capable to accommodate and operate as a Joint Special Operations Component Command (JSOCC) and perform the role of a Special Forces command unit up to Task Group level, will be delivered.

The MCADS is a particularly valuable capability for which the Italian Navy Raiders are in a state of constant readiness for interventions both abroad with the Italian Joint Special Forces Operations Command and within national territory in cooperation with other government departments.