Why does Defense fly low on Tempest and Fremm? Gaiani’s analysis
Even in the defense sector and in military export, silence and ambiguity are certainly not good for national interests, but instead favor our rivals. See the Tempest and Fremm cases. The comment by Gianandrea Gaiani, director of SviluppoDifesa
Italy has signed an agreement with Great Britain and Sweden for the development of the new Tempest fighter but the news is strangely kept secret for two weeks.
Only on January 3, the Ministry of Defense announced in a press release that the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini signed together with the Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace and of Sweden Peter Hultkvist, last December 21, a trilateral agreement for the development of the new Tempest weapon system, defined as “decisive for the balance of military and industrial capabilities at European and global level”.
In terms of communication, but also political ones, it is interesting to examine the genesis of this news, made known only on January 3 in the press releases (with low visibility on the Defense website, to access it you need to click on the Press Area icon) and not between the news in the foreground that appears in great evidence on the home page of the site.
Yet news of such political, industrial and financial importance as the official adhesion to the Tempest Program would certainly have deserved to appear in the foreground on the Defense website and to be disseminated on the day of the signing of the agreement. Incredible that it was the Ministry of Defense that "broke the news" (as they say in journalistic jargon), which for some time now has correctly highlighted, together with the industry, the importance of our participation in the program.
The embarrassing result of this silence is that the news of the signing of the agreement was leaked, made known on January 2 by the Nova Agency followed by the other news agencies, forcing the following day the Ministry of Defense to publish it in the press releases, with 15 days late.
Yet on December 21, the site of the Ministry of Defense had found the time to provide texts and photos of two other news well highlighted on the site www.difesa.it: "The Military Scientific Department of the Celio sequences viruses with a variant found in Great Britain" and “Zona Militare Club is born”.
Why not communicate the much more relevant news of the signing of the trilateral agreement for Tempest? Perhaps there was fear of a heated debate on the costs of the 6th generation hunting program in this phase of serious economic, health and political difficulties?
The hypothesis is plausible given that the funds for the development of the Tempest have not been included in an ad hoc expense item but have been kept at a lower profile by inserting them within the appropriations for the updating of Typhoon fighters .
Perhaps they did not want to create further controversies with the "pacifist" wing of the government majority already committed across the board to ruining our defense industry by preventing the export of made in Italy products?
Not surprisingly, for these reasons, the delivery to the Egyptian Navy of the first of the two Fremm acquired in Italy (the al-Galala, former Spartacus Schergat, arrived a few hours ago in the port of Alexandria as shown in the video) had a very thin profile. ) whose sale was also authorized by the current government despite the controversy relating to the case of Giulio Regeni, whose parents announced a complaint against the executive for the supply of ships to Egypt in violation of Law 185/90 on export of arms to countries that do not respect civil rights.
It is also better to remember that on December 22nd the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved a resolution proposed by Yana Chiara Ehm (M5S) and Lia Quartapelle (PD) which commits the government to renew and expand the stop to the export of direct defense products to Saudi Arabia but also to the other states involved in the conflict in Yemen (practically almost all those of the Arab League, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates), also blocking export licenses already authorized.
A measure that seems to enjoy the support of at least part of the government, including Deputy Foreign Minister Manlio di Stefano (M5S) according to the newspaper Avvenire .
Such an initiative would have disastrous consequences for our (residual) international political credibility and for the Aerospace and National Defense industry, whose survival is now more than ever linked to military orders, also in light of the fact that the Covid epidemic -19 has reduced or eliminated civil aviation and cruise shipbuilding orders.
Saudis, Emiratis and Egyptians are not only allies but also excellent customers and are evaluating new billionaire orders in Italy. Compromising them by blocking existing contracts or renouncing them would not bring peace to the world or help more or less just causes (are the Iranian missiles launched by the Houthis on Saudi cities perhaps more "good" than Western bombs dropped by Riyadh fighters on Yemeni cities? ) but it would kill the occupation and the hi-tech industry of the Italian Defense by favoring our rivals in France, Britain, the United States, Russia, China, Germany….
On a geopolitical and strategic level, after having given Tripolitania and the Central Mediterranean to Turkey, we only need Rome to cut itself off from strategic relations with the states that lead the Arab League (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates in head) thus reducing to a flicker the national weight in the so-called "Enlarged Mediterranean".
An area where it is often difficult to find emulators of Swiss democracy, but where many states fundamental to our national interests are fighting against Islamic terrorism and destabilization supported by foreign powers.
After all, the pacifist fury supported by some components of the government majority (there are those who would even want to block the export of small arms to the Mexican security forces engaged in a real war with no holds barred against the well-armed armies of the narcos ) cannot be explained only with ideal reasons.
Let's not forget the many friends of the "Muslim Brotherhood" (hostile to Saudis, Emiratis and Egyptians) present in the ranks of the Italian political and cultural left.
It is also better not to forget that the "pro-French party" has been very influential for a long time, especially at the Farnesina and in the Democratic Party: it is in fact clear that Paris would be the first to gain from the exit of made in Italy products from the rich market of Defense in the Middle East and North Africa.
France has not yet digested that Qatar has bought an entire "turnkey" fleet in Italy complete with helicopters and missiles, or that Cairo has chosen the Italian Fremm after acquiring a French one years ago or that the Saudis evaluate the Italian Fremm to replace the old French frigates in service.
The successes of our industry and the hypothesis that Rome ousted Paris from these important markets has sparked a heated debate in French politics and in the French press.
Moreover, if Italy excluded itself from these markets, the French could successfully offer many products that these Arab states would like to acquire in Italy: Fremm frigates, patrol boats, fighter aircraft, amphibious combat vehicles, satellites….
Those who hide behind the banner of peace and human rights are certainly aware that without exports our Aerospace and Defense industry is doomed to collapse. A scenario that would once again favor the interests of competitors, French in the lead, who have long been interested in acquiring, perhaps at final prices, valuable pieces of our industrial apparatus.
Even in the defense and military export sector, silence and ambiguity are certainly not good for national interests, but instead favor our rivals that so many fans seem to have even in Roman palaces.
Article published on analisidifesa.it
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-la-difesa-vola-basso-su-tempest-e-fremm-lanalisi-di-gaiani/ on Sat, 09 Jan 2021 07:36:56 +0000.