Italy is currently leading TASK FORCE X CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN (TFX-CENTMED) through the Defense General Staff.

The activity, conducted in the waters of the southern Adriatic and in Puglia, began on June 22 and will conclude on July 10. The initiative's main purpose is to enhance situational awareness, continuous surveillance, and the protection of critical infrastructure by integrating new technologies—such as unmanned systems and artificial intelligence—alongside conventional forces.

TASK FORCE X (TFX) initiatives are neither operations nor exercises. They are programs promoted by NATO's ALLIED COMMAND TRANSFORMATION as part of the Alliance's Rapid Adoption Action Plan. The current activity is the third TASK FORCE X, following TFX BALTIC and TFX ARCTIC: the first ran from January to October 2025, while the second, launched last June, is still ongoing. TFX-CENTMED is the first to be led by a single Allied nation, Italy, and the first to cover all 5 operational domains—land, maritime, air, cyber, and space.

Italian Chief of Defense Gen. Luciano Portolano pushed strongly for TFX-CENTMED to be the first fully multi-domain edition. According to his statement, "contemporary threats have no borders and do not confine themselves to a single operational domain." For this reason, he said, Italy structured the first fully multi-domain TASK FORCE X, expanding its scope compared with previous initiatives, in order to validate a system of systems capable of integrating, interconnecting, and achieving full interoperability among diverse platforms, sensors, and data—and to strengthen the Alliance's deterrence posture on the Southern Flank.

The general also highlighted Italy's central role in promoting and contributing to the technological evolution of the Atlantic Alliance. On July 3, the Chief of Defense visited the Torre Veneri range in Lecce province, together with Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and representatives of NATO's ALLIED COMMAND OPERATIONS and ALLIED COMMAND TRANSFORMATION, to observe an operational demonstration.

TFX-CENTMED is designed to incorporate live data from sensors operating across the underwater environment and the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as from unmanned aerial, ground, surface, and underwater systems, satellites, counter-UAS sensors, and cybersecurity platforms. Under the trial, data from sensors, platforms, and effectors is integrated, correlated, and displayed through a Battle Management System—unclassified at this stage—with subsequent federation and full integration into national C2 systems. Participants in activities held during the NATO Summit in Ankara are expected to view, on a digital map known as the Common Operating Picture, the images and integrated data from the sensors currently taking part in the initiative.

5 countries are participating in TFX-CENTMED: Italy, the United States, Slovenia, Croatia, and Latvia, joined by 7 observer nations—Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Hungary—with roughly 180 sensors deployed in total, provided by governments and industry. The initiative is open to industry participation, with more than 80 companies, both large firms and SMEs, taking part to foster dialogue, collaboration, and potential synergies at the national and international level. On the Italian side, more than 800 personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri, and Guardia di Finanza took part in the initiative.

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