Search and rescue to safeguard human life with the aid of satellite technology. Technical agreement signed in Bari between Italy and the European Commission

Today morning, during a visit to the Italian COSPAS-SARSAT Satellite Station in Bari, operating as part of the national civil defense function and managed by personnel of the Port Authority-Coast Guard Corps, Engineer Luigi D'Angelo, Director of Operations for Emergency Coordination of the Department of Civil Protection, by delegation of the Head of the National Civil Protection, Engineer Fabrizio Curcio, signed an administrative agreement on technical cooperation between Italy and the European Commission, which has already been signed by Mr. Timo Pesonen, Director General of Defense Industry and Space. Timo Pesonen, director general Defense Industry and Space of the same European Commission.

The signing took place in the presence of Admirals Sergio Liardo and Giuseppe Aulicino of the Operational Department of the General Command of the Port Authority Corps - Coast Guard, as well as the Maritime Director of Puglia and Basilicata Ionica, Admiral Giuseppe Meli.

Thanks to this agreement, Italy, through the COSPAS-SARSAT Satellite Station in Bari, will be able to share online the data acquired by the satellite stations managed by the European Commission, located in Norway, Spain and Cyprus. This will make it possible to have, in real time, the availability of a large amount of information in the case of activation of emergency transmitters supplied to naval, air and land vehicles, both Italian and non-Italian, taking advantage of a wide coverage of the earth's surface and greater precision in the exact location of the transmitter, so as to make search and rescue operations of people in danger of death and carriers in difficulty more timely and easier.

Today's agreement is a testament to the development of satellite technologies to aid search and rescue (SAR) operations, which, in Italy's service area alone, has, over the past five years, enabled the handling of some 7,000 emergency signal activations and the rescue of more than 450 people.

Bari,  June 7, 2021