From Morosini to Cavour, what do Italian ships mean in the Indo Pacific?
Industry experts and insiders analyze the sending of the Cavour aircraft carrier to the Indo-Pacific for training activities at the end of the year. In the meantime, the Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessel Francesco Morosini leaves the La Spezia base for a 5-month naval campaign in the Asia-Pacific theatre.
From the enlarged Mediterranean, does Italy's projection expand to the Indo-Pacific?
This is what analysts and insiders are wondering after the announcement by Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy, of the forthcoming dispatch of the Cavour aircraft carrier to the Indo-Pacific for training activities with partners in the region, in the course of a conference held on March 14 at the Catholic University of Milan.
Between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the flagship of our Navy should therefore be sent to the East, but after maintenance work which will begin next month at the Palermo shipyards.
But before that, the Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessel Francesco Morosini will leave the La Spezia base today for a 5-month naval campaign in the Asia-Pacific theater.
“The growing interaction between NATO, the European Union and the United States' partners in the Indo-Pacific aimed at containing the maritime ambitions of the People's Republic of China is the main reason why the Italian Navy is extending its range of action also to the Far Oriente”, claims Limes, the geopolitical magazine directed by Lucio Caracciolo.
“The recent announcement by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, on the sending of the Cavour aircraft carrier to the Indo-Pacific for training activities with partners in the region is a significant novelty. What is the strategic reason for such a move? There are at least 3 elements to consider in this regard”, claims Alessandro Marrone, head of the IAI Defense Programme, in Rid-Rivista Italiana Difesa edited by Pietro Batacchi. “The first is the growing relevance and interconnection of the Indo-Pacific with the Enlarged Mediterranean, an area of priority national interest. China's assertive policies, supported by an unprecedented growth of its Armed Forces, project influence in Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, and are judged at least as a challenge by NATO and EU strategic documents” underlines Marrone.
All the details.
THE PATROL AND TRAINING MISSION OF NAVE MOROSINI IN THE FAR EAST
On the afternoon of 6 April at 16.00 the ship Francesco Morosini, second unit of the Navy's multi-purpose offshore patrol boats (Ppa) class, will depart from the naval base of La Spezia for a naval campaign in the Far East which will last five months.
The undersecretary of state for defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago and the commander in chief of the naval squadron Admiral Aurelio De Carolis greeted the crew. During the campaign, the patrol vessel will go to the Far East and ply the waters of the China Sea arriving at the ports of Yokosuka, in Japan (14-18 June) and Pusan, in South Korea (21-24 June) carrying out activities of Naval Diplomacy in fifteen ports of fourteen Southeast Asian countries. Nave Morosini will also take part in the Agenor operation, a European aero-naval device with a predominantly maritime connotation deployed between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean region to safeguard the freedom of navigation and the safety of ships in transit in that area (Emasoh).
"This last mission will therefore represent a broader and more multilateral evolution of the Indo-Pacific tour carried out by the Carabiniere ship in 2017" comments Gabriele Abbondanza on Affariinternazionali .
CAVOUR'S MISSION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC
After that, it should be Nave Cavour to set sail towards the Indo-Pacific.
Specifically, between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the Italian Navy will send an aircraft carrier squadron to the Indo-Pacific to operate with the allies, as announced by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto, speaking at a conference at the Catholic University of Milan.
“It will sail to Japan, then take the way back. The formation will include the aircraft carrier Cavour and the escort vessels, i.e. a destroyer, a frigate and a team replenisher,” Bergotto explained.
"The mission will be preceded by the offshore patrol vessel Morosini being sent to the Pacific, which will carry out a four-month training cruise", added Berrutti Bergotto.
ACTIVITIES WITH PARTNER COUNTRIES
“Another element to consider – reports Alessandro Marrone on Rid – concerns the route taken for some time by the Navy, and overall by the Italian Armed Forces. Only 3 countries in the world are today able to deploy an aircraft carrier group from which to operate the 5th Generation F-35 fighters: United States, United Kingdom and Italy".
It is no coincidence that from 20 to 28 February, the Italian Aircraft Carrier Group with Nave Cavour had participated in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Neptune Strike 23 exercise, organized and conducted by the allied command STRIKFORNATO (Naval Striking and Support Forces Nato). The Italian Aircraft Carrier Group operated in joint activity with the US and Spanish aircraft carrier groups and consisted of the aircraft carrier Cavour, the destroyer Caio Duilio and the ship Etna.
Furthermore, "Proof of this dynamic is the participation of the Bergamini frigate in the first joint EU-US naval exercise, held between 23 and 24 March 2023 in an unspecified part of the ocean that divides the US and China" added Giorgio Cuscito on Limes .
A MORE ACTIVE ROLE FOR ITALY IN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Finally, a last element "relates to a more active role of Italy with respect to international security and national interests, in the Enlarged Mediterranean and beyond" underlines Alessandro Marrone.
“It is a long-term trend already implemented by the Berlusconi, Renzi and Draghi governments, and accentuated by the Meloni executive. In particular, with respect to the Indo-Pacific, for the first time an important multinational procurement program such as the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) between Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom was officially launched not by the Ministry of Defense but by the Presidency of the Council: a sign of political attention that benefits from the close relationship between the Premier and the Minister of Defense Crosetto” points out the IAI expert.
CONSEQUENCES AND IMPACTS FOR THE NAVY AND THE COUNTRY SYSTEM
According to Alessandro Marrone "the activity of the Navy in the Indo-Pacific in fact serves several complementary purposes". These include the increase in interoperability "and relations with the navies of partner countries, starting with Japan", the strengthening of the "international military presence in support of freedom of navigation and the law of the sea in a region subject to disputes and claims on the Chinese side” and the creation of “opportunities for naval diplomacy in terms of the country-system, including the Italian shipbuilding and defense industry”.
However, according to Limes “these activities will hardly translate into a stable Italian presence in the Indo-Pacific in an anti-Chinese function. Our strategic priority remains the surveillance of the Mediterranean, more necessary than ever in the light of the continuation of the war in Ukraine, the chronic instability registered on the African shore and the entrenched presence of Russia and Turkey in Libya”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/morosini-a-cavour-cosa-significano-le-navi-italiane-indo-pacifico/ on Thu, 06 Apr 2023 09:29:56 +0000.