Leopard, Aries, Gcap and more. Here are Crosetto’s plans for the Defense

7 November 20236 months ago babelfish

From the cooperation of countries in the Middle East to expenses for the defense sector, up to the possibility of activating military reservists: what Minister Guido Crosetto said, in a hearing before the House commissions, as part of the Multi-Year Programmatic Document for Defense for the three-year period 2023-2025

According to Defense Minister Guido Crosetto we need to "think about the activation of military reservists in case of emergency", or war.

This is what Crosetto explained this morning at the hearing and before the Defense Committee of the House and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Senate.

The reference is to the situation in the Middle East, where "Italy is doing its part", Crosetto noted, citing the sending of resources to support civilian populations. “We are moving”, as are other countries, and we see “the attempt to separate Hamas from the Palestinian people” and to “resolve this crisis as quickly as possible”.

In the meantime, the minister underlined the need to definitively overcome "the cloying political and ideological controversy", which associates defense expenditure with "only a concept of cost". Defense expenditure is "a value" with an impact also positive for economic development, explained Crosetto, as well as having "a strategic value for the country system".

In this regard, the financial commitment in the three-year period 2023-25 is 25 billion euros through the multi-annual programmatic document for Defence, explained the minister. However, it will be "difficult to reach 2% Defense-GDP spending in 2028" admitted Crosetto.

All the details.

ITALIAN COMMITMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

“I have never seen different countries, both Arab and Western, cooperate at this level, primarily the United States, to avoid an escalation in the Middle East,” the Defense Minister said in a parliamentary hearing. “I hope that in a complex context our contingent will be in safe conditions,” added Crosetto. “We have equipped the entire area to face the worst situation, hoping that nothing serious happens,” the minister further observed.

THE FINANCIAL COMMITMENT OVER THE NEXT THREE-YEAR PERIOD FOR DEFENSE

The minister then illustrated the budget foreseen by the Multi-Year Programmatic Document for Defense for the three-year period 2023-2025, presented last month to Parliament .

“The programming concerns an overall financial commitment in the three-year period 2023-2025 of 25.1 billion euros, of which 1.3 billion for the new programs”, highlighted Crosetto.

“As established by the 2023 budget law – continued the Defense Minister – it can count in the investment sector on the resources provided by the refinancing of the Defense Investment Fund which, for the period 2023-2038, provides for an allocation of approximately 15.3 billion of euros, which were divided into 4.6 billion to finance programs expected to start and 10.7 billion for operational programs. Added to these are the 2.2 billion from the forecast of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, which have been entirely allocated to operational programs".

DIFFICULT TO REACH THE OBJECTIVE OF 2% DEFENSE SPENDING-GDP IN 2028

Regarding "the 2% requirement in the ratio between defense spending and GDP within NATO", Crosetto admitted that "it has no longer become a goal to be achieved for NATO but a starting point".

The Minister of Defense recalled that it is a commitment undertaken jointly by all the Allies in 2014 and confirmed by all subsequent governments in Italy. This executive, although intent on absolving him, does not suffer it passively. On several occasions, I have in fact expressed the need for NATO not to set unrealistic financial commitments and I have proposed giving due importance to other parameters, in addition to that of 2%". But "there is a need to increase allocations in the Defense sector, we are in fact very far from 2%, an impossible objective for 2024 but to be honest also difficult for 2028".

LEOPARD 2 TANKS AND ARIETE RENEWAL ARE SCHEDULED

Returning to the resources envisaged by the 2023-2025 DPP, Crosetto explained that "The sectors in which it was intended to intervene more decisively are the continuation of the modernization of the national medium-range air and missile defense capacity, the modernization of the heavy land vehicle, such as the renewal of some of the platforms already in use, the Ariete, the acquisition of new generation platforms already available on the market, the Leopard 2 , and the start of collaboration programs at European level for the development of the systems future generation ground combat systems, such as the Armored Infantry Combat System and the Main Ground Combat System”.

BUT ALSO NEW GENERATION FREMM AND GCAP

Among the other sectors of intervention, Crosetto also mentioned “the increase in national surveillance capacity in maritime areas of pre-eminent national interest, through the creation of two additional new generation Fremm frigates; the continuation of the research and development program for the sixth generation 'Gcap-ex-Tempest' aircraft”.

“The Gcap is first and foremost a great technological challenge as well as Italy's attempt to return as a primary player in the aeronautical sector”, highlighted the Minister of Defense when speaking of the project launched with Japan and the United Kingdom on the development of a latest generation fighter.

To date, after the Eurofighter, Italy "has no longer made investments that have given us relevant technology", considering how the F-35 has left most of the technologies in the United States, despite the initial premises. “We have lacked the technological leap in the last 10-15 years and Gcap is what we need to make up for this lack”.

PRIMARY ROLE IN THE AERONAUTICAL SECTOR WITH THE GCAP

For the minister it is "a challenge, not a certainty", but without following this project "we risk dying out and no longer having a future" on a technological level.

Above all, Crosetto assured that Rome aspires to a primary role in the trilateral partnership with London and Tokyo on the sixth generation air combat system.

These are decisive days for the advancement of the Gcap program: last week the meeting between our Minister of Defense, with the Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom, Grant Shapps and with the Special Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Japan, Yoshiaki Wada.

“We had to choose partners who would give us all the technology that we gradually discovered”, and this is still the topic of discussion with the United Kingdom, Crosetto noted. To my British counterpart "I said that we will invest a third, but we want to have all the technology" that the United Kingdom and Japan have available. The Gcap is "more of a technological challenge than a military one", specified the minister.

BEWARE OF SPACE AND CYBER

Furthermore, in the DPP "particular attention" is "reserved for the development of strategic capabilities in the Space and Cyber sectors, with the convinced financing of various programs". Finally, "it remains a priority to maintain the availability of armament and ammunition at such a level as to express an adequate level of combat power".

DEFENSE INDUSTRY IS AN ASSET FOR THE COUNTRY

In this regard, the Minister of Defense recalled that "The defense industry represents an asset for the country in the current geopolitical context". The Defense is continuing its commitment to research for technological development programs, highlighted Crosetto.

ARMED FORCES MAIN BASKET FOR DEFENSE

But in addition to the need for assets, the Minister of Defense placed emphasis on the Italian armed forces which must return to being a military instrument representing "the main bulwark for defense and deterrence" in terms of national security. We therefore need "a profound process of renewal and transformation".

FROM UKRAINE THE NEED TO REBALANCE THE ARMED FORCES

If nothing had happened in Ukraine "we would not have faced the problems" of rebalancing the structure of the Armed Forces with the same urgency as today, Crosetto explained at the hearing and before the Defense committees of the House and Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Senate. The minister explained how we must respond "to the logic of responding to the commitments made in NATO" to deploy three brigades.

“There is a need to definitively overcome the objective of contraction of organic volumes introduced by the 2012 law” illustrated Crosetto recalling the resolution of “a legislative decree scheme aimed at increasing the overall size of the organic resources of the Armed Forces , which concerns 50% officers and non-commissioned officers, and the remaining 50% graduates and enlisted men". “We then need – added Crosetto – a transformation that must revolutionize the recruitment, education and training sectors, also trying in this field to break the mold and impose a change of mentality”.

THE DIFFICULTIES THAT ARISE FROM THE CURRENT RULES

According to Crosetto, in fact, it is not possible to address defense problems "with the current rules of the public sector". The minister highlighted the difficulties in attracting talent for Defense, so "we must think that we cannot face the world we have before us with the same tools that apply to other sectors" and the same "applies to the pension system" .

“We should have competitions where people know from the start that they have a prospect of employment as soldiers.” Different therefore from what happened until a few years ago. “Some types of enlistment must be done differently”, added Crosetto, referring “to the special forces”, whose work cannot be compared to that of “the public sector”.

FOCUS ON TRAINING FACILITIES

Furthermore, it is not possible to think of the Armed Forces without training, and therefore we need ranges where exercises can be carried out.

The minister highlighted how NATO has very large training areas in Eastern Europe, which allow Italian personnel to work very successfully, but there are very high "logistical costs" in taking soldiers abroad. “We cannot afford to close the ranges,” added Crosetto.

CROSETTO REASONS ABOUT THE ACTIVATION OF MILITARY RESERVISTS

Finally, in view of future scenarios, consideration should be given to the activation of a reserve in the event of an emergency or war, according to the Minister of Defense.

In this regard Crosetto cited the examples of Israel and Switzerland, with constant training of reservists. This is "a more parliamentary challenge than a ministerial one", because "the easiest reserve to activate is that of the police forces", those who "are already trained in security activities".

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/leopard-ariete-gcap-e-non-solo-ecco-i-piani-di-crosetto-per-la-difesa/ on Tue, 07 Nov 2023 15:12:26 +0000.