Colonel Matteo Molari is the Deputy Commander and the Training Center Commander of the NATO ISR Force.
He is an Italian Air Force Officer coming from the regular courses of the Air Force Academy that he joined in 1993. He graduated Military Pilot in 1998 at the 61st Wing in Galatina, Lecce, on the MB-339 and was a rated Combat Pilot on the AMX at the 51st Wing in Istrana, Treviso, from 2001 to 2005. Assigned to ENJJPT at Sheppard AFB, Texas USA, he was an Instructor Pilot from 2005 to 2008 and was then assigned to the 32nd Wing in Amendola, Foggia, were he was Pilot and Instructor Pilot on the MQ-1 and MQ-9 Predators A and B and was Squadron Commander of the 28th SQN from 2010 to 2012.
After active flying he was assigned to the Italian AOC in Poggio Renatico, Ferrara, from 2012 to 2020, to A3/CPD initially as Staff Officer in the Air Operations Planning, and as a Colonel as A3/CPD Division Head, his last assignment before moving to Spain to CAOC TJ.
He has been at the NATO Combined Air Operation Centre Torrejón (CAOC TJ) between AUG 2020 and JUL 2024, as the Combat Plans Division (CPD) Head, covering the same duty for the Alliance Joint Forces Air Component (NATO NCS JFAC) for exercises and real life operational needs, as well as the ITA SNE and Red Card Holder for Air Policing OPS performed by ITA AD assets in the South AP Area.
Operationally he flew over Bosnia in 2002 for NATO RECCE missions with the AMX, over Afghanistan for NATO ISAF ISR missions with the MQ-1 in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and over Lybia for NATO OUP ISR missions with the MQ-9 in 2011. Additionally in 2019 he was deployed to Al Udeid, Qatar, as the Italian Senior National Representative/Red Card Holder (SNR/RCH) at the US CAOC to supervise the employment of Italian assets operating from Kuwait over Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. He has assumed the same additional national duties at CAOC Torrejón during his assignment at the Unit, with particular reference to the enhanced Air Policing (eAP) contribution offered by Italy to support the Alliance in the eastern flank (namely in Romania).
He is married with Mrs. Nadia, writer and teacher, has two children, Fabio and Gaia, and a dog, Zeus.