November 20, 2024 | International, Land
July 3, 2018 | International, Aerospace
Italy’s new defense minister commits to F-35, butts heads with France
By: Tom Kington
ROME ― Italy's new populist government may slow down but not reduce its order of F-35 fighter jets, while trimming its manpower in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta has told Defense News.
In one of her first interviews since taking office at the start of June, Trenta said Italy remained a faithful ally of the U.S., but added she was skeptical about sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.
A former defense academic at the Link University in Rome and a veteran of the Italian Army's civil reserve unit, Trenta was named defense minister by a coalition government formed in June, which groups the anti-migrant League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
Five Star officials promised last year to scrap Italy's purchase of 90 F-35 fighters, but Trenta said the new government would not cut orders, even if it might stretch out its purchase plan.
“It's a program we inherited and we have lots of questions; that is why we will evaluate the program considering the industrial and technology benefits for national interest, as we are the new government,” she said.
“What I would like to do is lighten the load since we have other spending commitments in Europe. We will try to stretch out deliveries instead of cutting the order, which would reduce offsets and mean penalties,” she said.
Foreign military invovlement
Trenta met U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on June 26 as he visited Rome, and she confirmed the new government's strong ties with the U.S. “The U.S. is our historic ally, we have never doubted that,” she said.
Trenta said she told Bolton that Italy aims to reach NATO's defense spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product. “But we would also like our strong presence in military missions recognized as an added value,” she said.
She said that presence would still be substantial despite the government's plan to trim its headcount in Afghanistan from 900 to 700, if and when replacements could be found to step in from other nations.
“We don't want to undercut stability or reduce support for Afghans. We want to start a change of pace, as established by the previous government, keeping at the same time the mission operative,” she said. “We don't want to weaken the mission, so we will look for other partners to take over tasks like logistics.”
The minister said she asked Bolton for help launching a planned Italian military mission to Niger in Africa to help combat people smugglers who send migrants across the Sahara to Libya, where they embark on boats heading for Europe.
The mission was announced last year but has been blocked by the Niger government, she said.
She said she also asked Bolton to help Italy take a “leadership” role in bringing peace to lawless Libya, noting she would visit the country next month in hopes of meeting Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the military commander hostile to the United Nations-backed Tripoli government that is supported by Italy.
Italy has been irked by French diplomacy in Libya, including backing for Haftar and support for elections by year-end. The election plan, Trenta said, was “not the best thing to do — the U.S. has seen in Iraq what happens when you rush things.”
Butting heads
France and Italy have meanwhile bickered this month over differing plans to deal with migrants arriving in Europe, but Trenta said no amount of political arguing would derail a planned merger between the naval operations of Italian shipyard Fincantieri and France's Naval Group.
“Both countries are planning on the deal going ahead — there has been no impact from the migration discussion,” she said.
The new government in Rome has not yet signed up to a French plan for a multinational rapid intervention force, which would contain fellow European Union members, but also the U.K., which is planning to leave the EU. France said it wants the initiative to exist separately to the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation initiative for security and defense.
Trenta said Italy would probably sign. “As a new government, we wanted to study it and make sure it does not weaken the EU PESCO initiative,” she said.
Italy's new government rattled its European allies earlier this month when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he would like to end sanctions that were imposed on Moscow after Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
Trenta shares his view. “We have to consider Italy's strategic interests — sanctions have damaged Italian exports, and it would be a good idea to evaluate alternative instruments,” she said.
“We see the U.S. as an ally, but we don't see Russia as a threat — we see it as an economic partner,” she said.
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November 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Aircraft makers sweeten their offers in high-stakes Swiss warplane race
By: Sebastian Sprenger and Valerie Insinna COLOGNE, Germany, and WASHINGTON — Four aircraft makers have submitted final offers for Switzerland's $6.5 billion aircraft program, with Airbus and Lockheed Martin touting different approaches to assembling their planes locally. Nov. 18 was the deadline for the quartet of hopeful vendors, which also includes Boeing and Dassault, to deliver their vision — and price — for one of the largest procurement programs in Europe. Switzerland is looking for somewhere between 36 and 40 new aircraft to police the country's airspace. The degree of local industry participation is shaping up to be a major factor for the famously independence-minded Swiss. Airbus got an assist from four Eurofighter operators — Germany, Spain, Italy and the U.K. — who sent their ambassadors in Switzerland to a Nov. 19 news conference to talk up the prospect of a grander industrial and political partnership that would follow a Eurofighter pick. The Swiss are expected to make a decision in early summer 2021, following a referendum vote this September that narrowly greenlighted the budget. The Airbus offer includes final assembly of all aircraft by way of a partner company in Switzerland, the details of which the company plans to announce in December. Michael Flügger, Germany's ambassador in Switzerland, touted the possibility of Eurofighter-based airspace-patrol cooperation along the Italy-Switzerland-Germany axis. In addition, he said, Switzerland joining the airplane's user club would mean the country can “export” training flight noise to remote areas in the other partner countries. Franz Posch, who heads the Airbus campaign in Switzerland, told reporters that the company's plan to locally assemble all 40 of the notional aircraft would “more than fulfill” the offset requirements established by the Swiss government. Lockheed Martin, with its F-35, also has high hopes for the Swiss competition, hoping to broaden the plane's user base in Europe. The company's offer includes a basic program of 36 jets, with options for an additional four aircraft, Mike Kelley, who leads the company's F-35 efforts in Switzerland, said during a Nov. 19 roundtable with reporters. While Switzerland would be able to purchase parts through the spares pool shared by all F-35 operators, the offer also contains a six-month deployed spares package — a separate pot of parts that would be managed by the Swiss government, which was necessary to meet Swiss autonomy requirements. To meet requirements for industrial participation, Switzerland would have the opportunity to domestically produce about 400 canopies and transparencies for F-35 aircraft, and Lockheed would establish a European hub for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of F 35 canopies and transparencies in Switzerland. In addition, the country would take on certain F-35 engine and airframe sustainment projects focused on maintaining the Swiss Air Force's operational autonomy, Kelley said. Lockheed also plans to partner with Swiss industry to create a cyber center of excellence, which would prototype a unique data network for Switzerland and build a test bed that would allow Swiss companies to test cyber capabilities in a secure environment. On top of those efforts, Lockheed is offering one last industrial participation opportunity to Switzerland. For an additional cost, Switzerland will be able to conduct the final assembly of four F-35 aircraft at existing RUAG facilities in Emmen, allowing the Swiss technicians that currently work on the country's aging Hornet fleet to build a deeper knowledge of the aircraft's design. That option would add a “significant cost” to the total program, Kelley said, but could allow for overall savings throughout the life cycle of the program. Boeing, meanwhile, has positioned its offer of an F-18 Super Hornet fleet as a logical extension of Switzerland's existing F-18 infrastructure. “As an F/A-18 operator, Switzerland will have the option to reuse up to 60 percent of existing physical and intellectual infrastructure, making the transition to a Super Hornet easier and more cost effective over the life of the aircraft,” the company said in a statement. The aircraft offer, the statement added, would “easily fit” within Switzerland's current F-18 operating budget. The reference to cost comes after Swiss officials stressed that the fighter portion of the Air 2030 air defense modernization program includes a cost ceiling of 6 billion Swiss francs (U.S. $6.6 billion), with with an eye on potential price reductions along the way. “Currently, Boeing is working with more than 100 current and new partners across Switzerland to identify the right opportunities for its New Fighter Aircraft industry plan,” the company said. France's Dassault, with its offer of the Rafale, is the only vendor keeping its cards close to its chest. Citing a commitment to confidentiality, a spokeswoman told Defense News the company had no plans to characterize its offer nor the “nature of the relationship” between the Swiss and French governments to that end. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/11/29/aircraft-makers-sweeten-their-offers-in-high-stakes-swiss-warplane-race/