Leonardo, all the resources foreseen in the Defense Dpp for the Tempest
Defense multiannual programmatic document (DPP) approved for the three-year period 2021-2023: 2 billion expected in 15 years for the Tempest program (in which Italy participates with the Leonardo group)
The Italian Defense is putting on the plate 2 billion euros for the Tempest program, the sixth generation air combat system of British initiative to which our country and Sweden joined in 2019.
On 4 August, the multiannual programmatic document (Dpp) for Defense for the three-year period 2021-2023 was published. This contains the resources allocated for the Tempest: two billion euros, distributed over fifteen years, with 20 million in 2021, as many in 2022 and 2023, 90 million in the two-year period 2024-26 and the remainder between 2027 and 2035.
Unlike last year's document , Italy has finally defined which funding to assign to the program with the sixth generation fighter at the center.
Just last July 29 the British government had awarded a new loan of 250 million pounds (294 million euros) for the new phase of the Tempest.
With the contract signed between the Johnson government and Bae Systems – the lead company of Team Tempest which also includes Leonardo UK, Rolls-Royce and Mbda UK – the project enters the concept and assessment phase.
On that occasion, the director of Rid , Pietro Batacchi, complained that "On the Italian front, after the signing of the trilateral MoU between the British, Italian and Swedish Defense Ministers last December, there are no news". "Some indications could come from the 2021 Dpp – expected in Parliament by the end of April, but as usual late due to the fierce internal struggles within the Armed Forces – from which we will be able to understand if the Tempest program is still a priority, but not financed, as in the 2020 Dpp. , or if there is an initial financing ".
Here are the details of the 2021-2023 Dpp approved yesterday regarding the funding for the Tempest program.
THE TEMPEST PROGRAM IN THE 2021-2023 DPP
Among the programs in the start-up phase with the Dpp 2021-2023, seven defined "Flagship" are considered strategic for Defense, as they are characterized by high opportunities for international cooperation, high technological value and strong imprint from the point of view of capacity and industrial.
They will be financed thanks to the Fund relating to the implementation of the Multi-year Investment Programs for the needs of National Defense, provided for by the 2021 budget law.
Among the Defense "Flagship" programs there is the participation of Italy, alongside Great Britain and Sweden, in the program of the 6th generation FCAS / Tempest aircraft.
RESOURCES FORESEEN
"This loan – for a total of 2 billion euros distributed over 15 years taken from the" needs "chapters of the budget of the Ministry of Defense – aims to specifically support Research & Development activities, in order to guarantee the right industrial positioning within the program, which should not be simplistically understood as a restricted development of a weapon system but as a historical moment of international cooperation and confrontation capable of promoting a process of profound technological discontinuity ”explains the Dpp.
THE TARGET
“An adequate level of contribution and participation in the research processes, already in this phase, will allow the national industry of the sector to access the most technologically advanced segments of the final development and production processes. In this perspective, contacts are already underway with the Department of Economic Development, to put in place the most appropriate joint effort with a view to a qualified and influential adhesion of the national industry to the international enterprise and the negotiation of the most valuable and advantageous industrial, technological, employment returns. "
THE NEED FOR THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PHASES
The program needs for the R&D phases is around 6 billion euros. The need for the subsequent acquisition and in-service support phase is being defined.
WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE 2020-2022 DPP
The resources needed in the 2020-2022 Dpp were in fact identified within the program operating the Eurofighters. "We placed them there because the Tempest program passes through a technological transition that passes through the Eurofighter, with the desire to be protagonists", explained Guerini, during the hearing before the joint defense committees of the Chamber and Senate in the scope of the examination of the Defense Dpp for the three-year period 2020-2022.
As stated in last year's Dpp , "the [Eurofighter] program also guarantees the development of new generation sensors with very advanced technology aimed at promoting the best positioning of the national aeronautical industry in the context of international cooperation around the future program for a sixth generation fighter (Tempest) ".
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ITALIAN FINANCIAL COMMITMENT
With the resources identified for Tempest in this year's DPP, Italy has caught up with its partners the UK and Sweden.
Without funding, our country in fact risked seeing a decrease in the ability to influence requirements and weakened in the perspective of future negotiations on the division of industrial shares.
On 21 December, the Minister of Defense signed, together with his counterparts in the United Kingdom and Sweden, a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) which governs an equal collaboration between the three countries under the Tempest program, with the intention of sharing the development workload.
UK COMMITMENT
Recall that the UK has already pledged 2 billion pounds for the program launched in 2018, which aims to start production by 2025, with delivery of the fighter aircraft system by 2035. The sixth generation stealth fighter should replace the Eurofighter Typhoon from 2040.
On 22 July 2020, the industries of Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden started a trilateral collaboration within the project.
And on July 29, the UK Ministry of Defense said that the new £ 250 million loan is part of the government's investment of over £ 2 billion, which will be distributed over the next four years.
AND THAT OF SWEDEN
Simultaneously with the announcement of the trilateral partnership last year, Sweden's Saab has revealed an initial investment of £ 50 million and the creation of a new “Future combat air systems” center in the United Kingdom.
THE INDUSTRIES INVOLVED
The three national industries include the main defense companies in the United Kingdom (Bae Systems, Leonardo Uk, Rolls Royce and Mbda Uk), Italy (Leonardo Italy, Electronics, Avio Aero and Mbda Italy) and Sweden (Saab and Gkn Aerospace Sweden).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/leonardo-tutte-le-risorse-previste-nel-dpp-della-difesa-per-il-tempest/ on Thu, 05 Aug 2021 13:51:53 +0000.