Lieutenant Colonel Andrea ‘Fulmine’ Lopreiato attended the Italian Army Military Academy and graduated in 1991. After 7 years in the parachute brigade he joined the US Naval Aviation Flight School in Pensacola, Florida where he graduated as a naval aviator on multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft in 2003. After completion of Staff College he was assigned to the Doctrine and Procedures Branch in the Italian Army Aviation Headquarters in Viterbo. As Branch Head, Lt Col Lopreiato ran several capability development projects including the implementation of a Forward MEDEVAC capability and the national interface of the EDA Helicopter Training Programme. Since September 2012 he has been working as a subject matter expert in the Concepts and Development (CD) and then in the C4ISR-S branch of the JAPCC.