Speakers

Brigadier General Edoardo DE SANTO was born and raised in Avellino, Italy; he joined the Italian Air Force in 1991 after obtaining a Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering with distinction.

From 1992 to 1996 he served at the Sigonella Air Base (Sicily) as Chief Technical Officer for the BR 1150 Breguet Atlantic, during which time he completed a Master's degree in Public Sector Economics.

From 1996 to 1999, he was assigned to Aermacchi in Venegono (VA) as Chief of the Technical Surveillance Office, responsible for all government services (i.e. acquisition and service contract negotiations, aircraft acceptance tests, NQAR, etc.) related to the MB339, AMX, Tornado and SIAI programmes

From 1999 to 2002 Maj. Edoardo DE SANTO was posted to the USA as Technical Section Leader in the C130J Italian Office c/o Lockheed Martin in Marietta Georgia (USA) responsible for managing the Italian C130J acquisition contract for 22 aircraft. Back in Italy in October 2002 he was appointed Chief of the C130J Maintenance Wing c/o 46th Aerobrigade managing the entry into service and the availability contracts for the entire C130 and C7J Italian fleet.

Serving in Pisa until 2008, he attended various military courses and actively participated in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (Antica Babilonia). After attending the Joint Senior Officer Staff Course, he was assigned to NETMA as C1 Section Leader from 2008 to 2012 where he was responsible for all in-service support contracts between the Nato Procurement Agency and the Eurofighter Consortium.

Returning to Italy, he attended the Higher Military College in Rome (IISMI) and was promoted to Colonel in 2014 and appointed Director of the 1st Division of the Italian Armaments and Airworthiness Directorate, responsible for Itaf fighters and air defence aircraft.

From 2014, he was HoD of the EFA IT National Airworthiness Authority and IT Legal Financial Commitment Control. In 2018, Colonel Edoardo DE SANTO was appointed Division Leader Support in NETMA and he served again in NATO until October 2022 supporting all EF ILS disciplines, providing the requested in-service support to the fleets and managing all emerging in-service issues through each stage of the Eurofighter end-to-end change process. In his role he also ensured continuity of the supply–Company General Use chain, the management/cure of obsolescence issues and the retrofit/return to work of aircraft, engine and ground support equipment defining, implementing and managing the necessary support contracts.

In October 2022, Colonel Edoardo DE SANTO was appointed Deputy Italian FCAS Director and served as Italian Senior Programme Rep in the GCAP Programme until December 2024. Brigadier General Edoardo De Santo, now retired from the Air Force, works with Leonardo as a Senior Commanding Engineer and Strategic Consultant for major international programmes.