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Vega, Cdp and Golden Power. Copasir’s route to space

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Vega, Cdp and Golden Power. Copasir's route to space

The Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (Copasir) approved the report on space as a new geopolitical frontier. Here are scenarios and auspices

“The aerospace domain is now clearly the frontier on which competition in the scientific, economic and military fields at a global level is already taking place and will take place”.

This is what the Parliamentary Committee for the security of the Republic (Copasir) maintains in the report on space approved in today's session, announced the president, Senator Adolfo Urso.

"In consideration of the services provided through space infrastructures, this domain is constantly seeing its role grow in the context of protecting the defense and security of nations", underlines the report of the Committee.

And "The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has clearly demonstrated how true this is," Copasir added.

Furthermore, according to Copasir, “the presence of private actors cannot be neglected” in the sector. In fact, in recent years there has been a rush by private actors to build access systems to Space: such as the American SpaceX and BlueOrigin and the British Virgin Galactic.

And the competition will see Western countries – through their cooperation programs – and China, according to the Committee. The country of the Dragon, which started "initially lagging behind its other international competitors, quickly bridged the gap also through recourse to unscrupulous and aggressive practices for the acquisition of knowledge and technology from the most advanced players in the sector".

The report "made use of the contribution of 13 hearings and three missions, one at the Aerospace Operations Command (Coa) of the Poggio Renatico Air Force, and two abroad in the United States and in Brussels", President Urso specified.

Here are all the details on the ' Report on the aerospace domain as a new frontier of geopolitical competition'.

SPACE: THE INVESTIGATION STARTED BY COPASIR

The Committee, explains Urso, "has activated a specific investigation into the aerospace domain following the withdrawal of the international coalition in Afghanistan, which took place in August 2021. An event that constituted a turning point in the geopolitical and military scenario, determining a path of radical strategic rethinking for the Atlantic Alliance, Western countries and above all for the European Union called to a greater assumption of responsibility with a view to building a more incisive common foreign and security policy and for its greater strategic autonomy . These needs, which emerged at that historical moment, were then confirmed and reinforced in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which brought out precisely the role of aerospace domination in war activities as well as the consequences of the sanctioning system in the development of the sector " .

THE PRESENCE OF PRIVATE ACTORS

Furthermore, "it cannot be overlooked that in an area with distinct dual characteristics such as the one in question, the presence of private actors can give a qualitative leap but also determine dynamics to be governed so that the nation-states can maintain control of their strategic assets" reads the conclusions of the Report.

Just think of the role played by the Starlink constellation of the aforementioned SpaceX in Ukraine during the conflict. SpaceX and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have sent 5,000 Starlink terminals, the satellite Internet service of Elon Musk's company, to Ukraine. And the Starlink satellite network does not just guarantee Internet connection to the Ukrainian people. The Starlink system is supporting the Ukrainian army that pilots drones even in the event of Internet or power outages, frequent in Ukraine hit by the Russian military offensive.

CHINESE FACTOR …

Turning to the competition in the aerospace domain, for Copasir this "will take place in the confrontation between Western countries through their cooperation programs and China which, initially starting late compared to other international competitors, quickly bridged the gap also through the use of unscrupulous and aggressive for the acquisition of knowledge and technology from the most advanced players in the sector ".

… AND NOT ONLY: THE ACTIVISM OF GERMANY AND ENGLAND TOGETHER WITH FRANCE

Therefore, according to the Committee, "in order to face this challenge, collaboration on an international level becomes crucial". So that our country can maintain that level of excellence that has characterized it since the dawn of the so-called 'space race'.

But according to Copasir, "this positioning is now threatened by the growing activism of British and German companies, alongside the historic competition with French partners, in the space access sector that has seen our country up to now, with the Vega launcher. protagonist in this segment of the value chain of space activities ".

THE COMPETITION FOR THE VEGA

In the space access segment, represented by launchers, Italy boasts an excellent positioning with the different versions of the Vega carrier from Avio Spa, underlines Copasir.

British and above all German companies, also supported by partial support from ESA (European Space Agency), "are rapidly acquiring skills such as to constitute a formidable competitor for Italian companies in this specific market context" added the Committee.

And again with regard to the Vega launcher, Copasir recalls that "the improvements envisaged by our industry have caused political reactions in Paris which fears potential competition with the Ariane in promising market segments such as the constellations of small satellites".

NEED FOR A LEGAL FRAMEWORK

On the level of international governance, on the other hand, according to Copasir, there is the “need to integrate and update a body of legislation that has been stratified over time and, in some ways, inadequate to the challenges of our day”.

"Think of a legal framework that covers aspects such as the protection of assets in orbit or, looking also in this case at the consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the military use of space domain and the forecast, by NATO, of to include the aerospace domain among the areas for which recourse to Article 5 of the Treaty can be invoked by a member country ”, the report reads.

Furthermore, "Our country, due to the role it has always played on an international level in this sector – adds Copasir -, is strongly interested in an institutional architecture that allows for better governance and the full development of space policies, while at the same time strengthening participation in international, bilateral and multilateral fora, ensuring Italy an influential presence ".

INVESTMENTS GUIDED BY CDP

Finally – concludes the report – “maximum support must be ensured to the Italian research and production sector, consisting mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises capable of expressing a very high level of competence in terms of technology and implementation”.

In this regard, Copasir invokes "on the one hand the use of the golden power tool with maximum effectiveness". That is the legislation that confers special powers on the government to avoid the sale of strategic assets to foreign powers.

"On the other hand – continues Copasir – an investment plan, also favored by the intervention of an institutional entity such as Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Cdp), can enhance the strengths of this fabric and put it in a position to keep up with the increasingly pressing needs deriving from new and more advanced space infrastructures ".

In particular, CDP "would act as an incubator by encouraging the collection of private funds". "A role that Cdp has already partially begun to play, for example by participating in the first Italian fund investing in the sector, the Primo Space Fund, managed by Primomiglio Sgr" reports MF .

THE SPATIAL FUNDS

Speaking of funds, Copasir also recalls that "Italy" ranks seventh – after the USA, Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China, but ahead of Germany – in terms of public spending budget for the space sector , in relation to GDP, in 2020 ". For the Space sector, the total resources available from the national budget, net of the ESA contribution, are approximately 2 billion euros on the three-year plan of the Italian Space Agency and 2.3 billion euros through the Pnrr and the fund complementary, therefore 4.3 billion euros.

As recently recalled by the Minister for Innovation Coalo , all funds have been assigned to the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and to ESA. “We are aiming for the relaunch of Italian leadership in the space segments” he noted, then recalling the collaboration with Cdp for the disbursement of funds to small innovative companies in the sector.

And in fact, last week Avio was awarded the first two contracts for the “Next Gen Eu” implementation for the European space launchers. Therefore, the leading Italian company in space propulsion that creates the Vega vector will lead the projects for the new eco-sustainable engines for access to space.

The orders linked to these two 340 million euro contracts are to be spread over 4 years (2023-26). All the projects financed by the NRP will in fact have to be completed by 2026. But the time factor worries the other companies in the space sector in Italy. "We hope that the tight deadlines do not favor the assignment of projects only to large companies", had warned in L'Economia Marina Scatena, president of Aipas, the association of space activities companies.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/vega-cdp-e-golden-power-la-rotta-del-copasir-per-lo-spazio/ on Thu, 07 Jul 2022 13:16:20 +0000.