Italian Gear used in Somalia - Operation IBIS 1992-1994.

Since I have been collecting some of this gear for so long, I figured I would start displaying it here. Italy sent a large contingent of troops to Somalia in 1992 to facilitate the delivery of food to the starving populace. I'll start off with some gear of the 9th Parachute Battalion "COL MOSCHIN." I do not know much about this stuff other than it is extremely rare and that it was used almost exclusively in the Somalia operation. Because of it's similar appearance, I have seen some Italian refer to this vest as the "British style flak."

First up is a flak vest made by the company "Cassoni." I've heard that this company eventually turned into "Sistema Compositi" but gear with Cassoni tags stops turning our around the early 90s. They also made helmets and tactical gear (some of which I will post later). To the best of my knowledge, this vest was exclusively used by the Col Moschin in Somalia.






As you can see, it has the British style rubber shoulder pads, and the velcro opening. Here are some pics of it in use. Some of these pictures show the Cassoni load bearing vest being worn over it.

Next up is the load bearing vest, shown throughout the pictures above and normally worn over the above shown flak vest. This one is a left handed variant (shown by the chest holster location) and is also made by Cassoni.

Next up is a vest used by the Italian San Marco Battalion Marines in Somalia. This vest is also made by Cassoni and appears to be dated 1984. I have never seen it in use anywhere outside of Somalia, although I believe there is a green variant used in Lebanon in the 80s that is more common. I am missing the plates for this though.

Great! Thanks for adding!

Great vest ..

Good supporting photos..


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I've got a bunch more so let me know if there is interest and 'I'll post them.

This is absolutely incredible! Thank you so much for posting and driving me mad wishing I had half of that gear!

Camonut314 wrote:This is absolutely incredible! Thank you so much for posting and driving me mad wishing I had half of that gear!

Thanks for the kind words!

Next up is what some on Italian forums have called the AP91. This was the most common style vest used by Italian troops in Somalia. It was made by Sistema Compositi and styled loosely off the US PASGT. There is another lighter green variant I will post later.

That's some very rare and cool stuff right there! Congrats on finding that.
Very nice refpics too

Awesome items and great in-use pics, thanks very much for sharing! I'm surprised at how many vests and LBV's the Italians had in the 90's/00's.

San Marco body armor dated 1983 and special Cassoni helmet. Still looking for armor plates for vest.