Leonardo, how the Tempest program will take off in Italy
All the news for Italy and for Leonardo on the Tempest program. Facts, numbers and insights
Positive morning for Leonardo in Piazza Affari thanks to the Tempest.
The titles of the Piazza Monte Grappa group scored the best performance of the Ftse Mib, gaining up to 3.21% at € 6,554, reports Radiocor . The prices, analysts explain according to the group's agency Il Sole 24 Ore, benefit from the Italian government's decision to allocate 2 billion euros for the Tempest program, the new fighter-bomber launched in 2018 by Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
"The go-ahead for spending came shortly before Christmas with the double favorable opinion of the Defense committees of the Chamber and Senate on the ministerial decree approving the armament program" relating to the development of a complex and interoperable architecture based on a sixth generation air combat systems – Future combat air system (FCAS) ». The opinions were voted unanimously by all parties from right to left, including the 5 stars ”, wrote Gianni Dragoni in Sole 24 Ore last weekend.
While the UK, Italy and Sweden will work on Tempest in order to replace the Eurofighter Typhoons starting in 2035, France, Germany and Spain are involved in the rival FCAS project to replace the French Rafale and the German and Spanish Eurofighters.
So far, European defense and industry leaders have often speculated that Europe would end up with a unique agenda for pooling tight budgets and avoiding competition. But experts have warned that any deals to combine such strategic combat systems remain distant as companies consolidate their positions in existing programs, Reuters recently pointed out.
All the details.
RESOURCES FORESEEN
As regards the financial coverage of the first phase, equal to 2 billion euros, it will be provided through the resources entered in the budget of the Ministry of Defense, mission "Defense and security of the territory", program "General Planning of the Armed Forces and supplies military ".
The second phase (with an estimated cost of € 4 billion). The chronology of payments relating to the phase of the program submitted to parliamentary opinion runs from 2021 to 2035. "In this regard, the Defense Staff points out that the breakdown of expenditure for each year may be temporally reshaped according to the effective contractual collectability of the payments, as emerging from the completion of the technical-administrative activity ”, the Senate Defense Commission recalled during the examination of the decree.
“Phases 3 (" initial production ") and 4 (" advanced production ") will follow, with additional costs, in addition to those for the purchase of the aircraft intended to replace the Eurofighters of the Italian Air Force, starting from 2035. Up to now, 88 EFAs have been delivered to the blue weapon, out of 96 planned ”, Il Sole 24 Ore notes .
THE CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS
With regard to the contractual conditions, "the explanatory sheet reminds that the process for the signing of the international implementation agreements between the partner countries following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is in the process of being finalized and half of it is expected to be completed of 2022, and highlights the need to ensure, through the formalization of specific contracts, already from the current financial year, the full operation of the research and innovation processes, also in consideration of the fact that the project, in the United Kingdom, is already fully operational ".
LEONARDO, AVIO AERO, MBDA ITALY AND ELECTRONICS AMONG THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIES INVOLVED
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).
"With reference to the possible industrial and employment returns of the program, Defense, in pointing out that the program will involve large defense and aerospace companies (Leonardo IT, Mbda IT, Elettronica and Avio GE) located in the national territory (in in particular, in the regions of Piedmont, Campania, Lombardy, Liguria, Puglia, Veneto, Sardinia, Sicily and Lazio) also reports that the initiative will involve SMEs and Start-Ups in the avionics, sensors, communications, 'artificial intelligence, propulsion, materials, simulation, armament and self-propelled aircraft ”reads the technical note attached to the draft decree.
THE COMMENT OF EQUITA
The program, the Equita analysts recall, therefore involves, in addition to Leonardo, Mbda (producer of which Leonardo owns 25%) and Elettronica (of which Leonardo has 31%), "but will have diluted effects in the long run term as it foresees the first deliveries for the Eurofighter equipment starting from 2035.
THE RELIEF OF THE DEFENSE COMMISSION OF THE CHAMBER
Furthermore, we remind you that the Defense Commission of the Chamber invited the Government, through an observation expressed in the opinion, "to urge the reference industry to review, where possible, situations of single-client contractual regime, which persist in some industrial plants of the Leonardo group, as in the important site of Grottaglie. [ Here the in-depth analysis by Startmag on the Boeing Effect and beyond. What happens to Leonardo's Aerostructures division ]. Especially where skills are available that can cope with different stages of aircraft processing, as required by the trade unions themselves, it is in fact necessary to enhance the skills of the territories by enriching the know-how of our aerospace industry ". This was reported in a note by Giovanni Luca Aresta, M5S group leader in the Commission and rapporteur for the favorable opinion on the provision.
THE MERGER WITH THE RIVAL FCAS?
Finally, the question of convergence between the two FCAS and Tempest programs still remains open.
Italy joined the Tempest program because it felt it could play a more important role than the FCAS program, explained General Luca Goretti, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, during the hearing in the joint Defense committees of the Chamber and Senate. last November 23rd .
In the FCAS program, our country risked filling a "branch role", he added.
“All of this will depend on how the national industry stands in relation to the British industrial component” Goretti pointed out. "Past experience facilitates because Leonardo Italy has a representation in England with Leonardo UK and we have already developed common programs".
The head of Sma specified that the two programs are currently in their "conceptual phase". Therefore "it is normal that, in this initial period, each country evaluates its own options on technology".
"But it is natural that these two realities will merge into one, because it is unthinkable to invest huge financial resources in two equivalent programs" he stressed.
When will this "compromise" take place?
“When the areas of industrial interest will be identified, or when the dialogue between industries in the same sector will begin” concluded General Goretti.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/leonardo-come-decollera-il-programma-tempest-in-italia/ on Mon, 10 Jan 2022 12:02:47 +0000.