Back to news

July 3, 2018 | International, Aerospace

Italy’s new defense minister commits to F-35, butts heads with France

By:

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.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/06/29/italys-new-defense-minister-commits-to-f-35-butts-heads-with-france/

On the same subject

  • U.S. Charges Three Iranian Nationals for Election Interference and Cybercrimes

    September 29, 2024 | International, Land

    U.S. Charges Three Iranian Nationals for Election Interference and Cybercrimes

    DOJ charges three Iranian nationals linked to IRGC for hacking U.S. campaigns, targeting officials, and election interference.

  • South Korea to suspend part of military pact after North claims spy satellite launch | Reuters

    November 21, 2023 | International, C4ISR

    South Korea to suspend part of military pact after North claims spy satellite launch | Reuters

    South Korea moved to suspend on Wednesday part of a military agreement it signed with Pyongyang in 2018 after the isolated North defied warnings from the United States and its allies and launched a spy satellite, calling it a success.

  • European Nations Are Teaming Up to Make a 6th-Gen Fighter. Can the US Keep Up?

    June 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace

    European Nations Are Teaming Up to Make a 6th-Gen Fighter. Can the US Keep Up?

    By Oriana Pawlyk SALON DU BOURGET, PARIS -- France made a splash at this year's Paris Air Show, unveiling a sixth-generation fighter design, the Future Combat Air System. The Dassault-made aircraft, which is set to be made in collaboration with Airbus and acquired by Spain and Germany as well as France, represents a renaissance in European aviation, French President Emmanuel Macron said. The unveiling comes just a year after BAE Systems debuted a concept model for a future British 6th-generation fighter, the Tempest. Is Europe now on a trajectory to beat the U.S. to acquisition of 6th-generation fighter technology? "I would have to say no," Acting Air Force Secretary Matt Donovan said here Monday during the airshow. Donovan and Dr. Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, both noted last year upon the unveiling of the Tempest fighter in the U.K. that, while competition is "a good thing," any fighter NATO partners and allies aim to produce in the future should be complementary to U.S. capabilities. They stressed the same message after France unveiled the Future Combat Air System. "We're putting a lot of focus into our next-generation programs right now to make sure we're going to lead the way to sixth-generation systems," Roper said. Roper and Donovan said they have yet to have a full briefing about what Europe's latest fighters, including the United Kingdom's Tempest jet, look like beneath the surface design. "We would just like to cooperate and collaborate ... as well as to share technology, [which is] absolutely important for future interoperability if we're going to go to war as coalitions, which we always do, so that's really important," Donovan said. Roper said it's not just about what a fighter can do, but also how it's made. Discussions are ongoing within the Air Force about the need for a sixth-gen fighter, he said. Leveraging the use of "digital engineering," which sometimes allows the service to bypass the regular manufacturing process for parts, will give developers the ability to design and change blueprints with more flexibility, Roper said. The Air Force is currently using digital engineering for A-10 Warthogs, as well as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, which is set to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system. "We [believe the] production technology may be the most game-changing component if it allows us to move into a different paradigm of doing rapid design spirals and updates," Roper told reporters here, adding that technology growth paired with digital engineering will allow for faster production of future aircraft. Roper said the Defense Department is used to outdated acquisition practices, out of step with what the pilot may need to outpace adversaries. "In addition to looking at a lot of classified capabilities we want to give future warfighters, we also want to give manufacturers a different way of making that cutting-edge technology. Expect [that] for what we bring to the table for sixth-gen," he said. "We're here to also ... connect with the future," Roper added. "Aviation is a booming business right now in Europe, so we're interested in seeing who the new movers and shakers are, engaging with some of the companies here in France, but also showing that some of the systems that we bring to bear from the U.S. are the best in the world, and we see a future where we maintain that edge far past our successors." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/06/18/european-nations-are-teaming-make-6th-gen-fighter-can-us-keep.html

All news