Air defense: analysis and perspectives. Seminar Iai
Here is what emerged from the seminar "Close air defense and threats to global security" organized by the Iai with the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Pietro Serino. Potential and challenges for Rheinmetall Italia, Mbda and more. All the details
"There is so much in the sky above us that anyone can create a significant threat."
This is what the Army Chief of Staff, General Pietro Serino said at the conference “Close air defense and threats to global security” organized by the Iai on 14 September in Rome with Undersecretary of Defense Giorgio Mulè. Alessandro Ercolani, CEO of Rheinmetall Italia and Lorenzo Mariani, CEO of Mbda Italia, also took part in the seminar. The two companies are in fact among the main players in the relative procurement programs in the air defense sector.
On the occasion, the Army 4.0 document was also presented. which indicates the path of capacitive development that the armed force will have to follow in the near future.
The war in Ukraine "has brought to the attention of public opinion the renewed need to ensure the defense a credible, effective, ready and, if necessary, capable of fighting in ever-changing environments" the document underlines. “The Army has an urgent need to approach the issue by creating a continuum between the various anti-aircraft defense systems: those of medium range (MRSAM); short range (SHORAD) and very short range (V-SHORAD) ".
As Rid pointed out, "in the field of anti-aircraft defense, in addition to the 2 programs already underway – GRIFO, in the short-range defense sector, and SAMP / T -NG, in the medium-range defense sector -" Army 4.0 "speaks explicitly of the need to define with the national industry the requirements for the development of a new family of very short range systems in a portable and vehicular variant ".
The acquisition of the new systems and platforms cannot ignore the involvement of the national defense industry also in order to maintain an Italian design authority to guarantee, together with a production capacity of scale, the necessary resilience.
All the details.
REPLACEMENT OF SHORAD SYSTEMS
“The main procurement program currently in the pipeline aims at replacing the Skyguard fixed systems, produced by Rheinmetall Italia. These systems are equipped with a semi-active Aspide radar-guided vector supplied by Mbda Italia ”underlines the Iai study.
Just in mid-September the Senate Defense Committee approved six programs, foreseen by the multi-year program of the Defense Staff, including the SHORAD GRIFO Renewal based on Mbda's Common Anti-air Modular Missile Extended Range (CAMM-ER) the acquisition of GRIFO short / medium range air defense systems for the Italian Army.
As stated in the text of the ministerial decree , "the new short-range air defense system of the Army, called GRIFO, will make it possible to fill the current capacity gap in the short-range air defense segment and will constitute an essential" piece "of the wider framework of air defense to protect the forces deployed also abroad ".
The system will be fully interoperable within the NATO integrated Air and missile Defense (IAMD) and the interoperability of the systems / equipment will be ensured in the terms indicated by the NATO STANAG (NATO Standardization Agreements). Furthermore, the integration of the SHORAD launcher and the CAMM-ER ammunition into the SAMP / T weapon system is planned. The total cost is estimated at approximately € 456.3 million, of which a portion equal to € 350 million, financed from the appropriations deriving from chapters of the investment sector of the Ordinary Budget of the Ministry of Defense within the resources available under current legislation. .
STABILITY OF INVESTMENTS NEEDED
Regarding anti-aircraft defense, but in general defense, certainty and stability of investments are necessary. "Regarding the multi-year Defense Program Document, one cannot fail to notice a step backwards in the 2022-2024 Dpp compared to the previous one in the SHORAD sector" highlighted Alessandro Marrone, Head of the IAI Defense Program.
DEVELOPMENT OF A EUROPEAN MANPAD
"The close air defense is one of the five areas on which – as an armed force – we are trying to focus our attention in the coming years in terms of development" underlined the head of SME Serino. "Calling it anti-aircraft defense is limiting because we are talking about a system that defends both critical infrastructures, sensitive targets and land formations from everything that comes from above, and from above everything comes".
Therefore, “We have two opportunities: restoring equipment and stocks in the MANPAD sector, where at the moment we have urgent needs where fulfillment times are not compatible with acquisitions from abroad. We talked about 5 years but it is an optimistic vision, because the times are longer. We would like, from the next DPP, the launch of studies to go towards the development of a European MANPAD is included among the financial needs ”added General Serino.
"The other great opportunity – indicates the Army Chief of Staff – is linked to the program for the new family of vehicles for the infantry which cannot fail to include an anti-aircraft version, that is, capable of engaging any threat that comes from the high, especially those at very low altitudes. We will have to develop a tower that has the capability of discovery and engagement ”.
MBDA: HOW PROCUREMENT WORKS TODAY
From the objectives of the armed force we then move on to industry.
Regarding the procurement process, Mr. Lorenzo Mariani, CEO of Mbda Italia, stresses that “two phases must be distinguished: the first phase is that from the need to the request for quotation from the industry, which takes a very long time. The only way to shorten them is to create tables. The second phase is that of real procurement where the legal constraints today make it particularly difficult to be effective and efficient, in which the State also loses money. In this final phase, institutions like Occar have facilitated collaborative programs ”.
According to Mariani “Country-level coordination for exporting is essential. Our country is not always considered reliable, in the last twenty years there has been a lack of continuity ”.
RHEINMETALL: ALL COUNTRIES AROUND ITALY ARE INVESTING IN AIR DEFENSE
Furthermore, it is also important to observe how other countries around us are doing in the field of air defense.
Since the beginning of the war, Alessandro Ercolani, CEO of Rheinmetall Italia points out, "in Ukraine, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Greece, Estonia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic they have started or concluded negotiations for the purchase or modernization of air defense systems. Almost all with non-European systems. In the last two years we have received (like other industries in the sector) from countries in the Mena area (Middle East and North Africa) requests for quotations worth about 5 billion from 7 countries for the renewal of protection systems. This means that Italy is in a circle where everyone around is investing in air defense ”.
According to Ercolani, in addition to industrial synergies, synergies with the Armed Forces and investments are necessary. Regarding this last point, for the number one of Rheinmetall Italia it is not so much a question of money, but of model.
MULÈ: PROTECTING THE COUNTRY'S DEFENSE IS NOT REARMING
Finally, protecting defense programs is not about rearmament. This is what the former Undersecretary of Defense Giorgio Mulè remarked. “The replacement of the Aspide is not a weapon system but it is a necessity on which we have already wasted too much time, which will occur in 2034 and not tomorrow. We have deployed these missiles until yesterday. It is not a question of rearming. There are programs that go beyond individual governments and where planning, the certainty of investment is questioned, the country is being hurt. Not in terms of international credibility. The country is exposed to a threat by making it vulnerable ”concluded Mulè.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/difesa-aerea-analisi-e-prospettive-seminario-iai/ on Tue, 27 Sep 2022 07:45:55 +0000.