Military export, raw materials and more. All the challenges of the defense industry
What the president of the Federation of Italian Aerospace, Defense and Security Companies (Aiad) said, Giuseppe Cossiga, during the hearing before the Defense Commission of the Chamber on issues of the production of goods and services for the sector
Operating in the field of defence, in any country (including ours) is difficult.
This is what the president of the Federation of Italian Aerospace, Defense and Security Companies (Aiad) confirmed, Giuseppe Cossiga, during the hearing before the Defense Commission of the Chamber on issues of the production of goods and services for the sector.
“We suffer from being labeled the merchants of death. What cannot be conveyed is the importance of having a sovereign defense industry” highlighted the president of AIAD. But in addition to the need to pay attention to defense culture, the number one of the defense sector industry association outlined the main challenges.
As he had already illustrated last month to the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee , Cossiga reiterated "The export of the defense industry takes place in a highly regulated context". “The sale of military material is part of a foreign policy of our country's government. We don't do anything that is pre-authorized and covered by our government." Therefore, "we need to simplify the rules to operate more fluidly" observed the president of Aiad.
All the details.
SIMPLIFICATION TO HAVE CLARITY OF THE WILL OF THE GOVERNMENT
It is crucial to have a sovereign defense industry. For Cossiga, who is also the director of institutional relations at Mbda, "two thirds of what we do goes to exports and it is clear that what we sell is part of the foreign policy of our country's government". "We are a group of companies that are extremely careful to operate within a highly regulated framework and therefore characterized by a central role of the government", pointed out the president of AIAD.
"When we talk about simplification – Cossiga explained – we are simply talking about the clarity of the government's desire to make its foreign policy explicit through the sale of armaments for us and all those involved in the authorization process".
WE NEED MORE PROGRAMMING OVER TIME
After that “we also have this need for clarity on another issue – added Giuseppe Cossiga-. That is, with our fundamental client: national defence”.
According to the president of AIAD, in this way companies could "equip themselves and plan their activities also to best meet the needs of our national customer". "Compared to other countries – added Cossiga – we have the money available in the current year authorized by the financial institution and a certain visibility on what happens in the following two years, through planning that can change over time".
What companies seek in the relationship with the national customer, as far as possible, is to have greater clarity and visibility over time, in order to better plan their activities, Giuseppe Cossiga pointed out again.
CRITICALITY OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY DUE TO LACK OF RAW MATERIALS
Finally, the critical issues due to the lack of raw materials in the sector "have increased with the war in Ukraine". The president of AIAD gave the example of the production of basic materials for gunpowder which, for purely market reasons, our country has left to others. Today, when the production of war materials has increased enormously, "our companies can no longer find them in France and Germany and our country has found itself without raw materials". “A choice that in the past seemed linked to market conditions has brought us into a difficult situation”, concluded Cossiga.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/export-militare-materie-prime-e-non-solo-tutte-le-sfide-dellindustria-della-difesa/ on Thu, 23 Mar 2023 07:49:58 +0000.