Italy is about to broaden its order of F-35 fighter jets, with plans to acquire an extra 25 plane, in accordance with the newly launched Multi-12 months Protection Program Doc submitted to Parliament.
This enlargement will carry Italy’s complete order from 90 to 115 plane, consisting of a mixture of F-35A and F-35B variants, a choice that has drawn important political debate.
The choice to extend the F-35 fleet comes at a time when Italy is ramping up its navy spending.
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“The selection so as to add 25 extra F-35s for an extra price of €7 billion is opposite to all logic,” mentioned Marco Pellegrini and Bruno Marton, parliamentary leaders of the 5-Star Motion, in a joint assertion. “This choice seems to be pushed by a want to please Washington and Lockheed Martin, regardless of the plane being technologically outdated and already surpassed by sixth-generation fighter applications like Tempest-Gcap.”
Critics argue that Italy’s participation within the Tempest program, a collaborative effort to develop a sixth-generation fighter alongside the UK and Japan, makes the F-35 much less related to the way forward for Italy’s air protection technique.
Regardless of the criticism, the Italian authorities maintains that the F-35 program is essential to the modernization of the Italian Armed Forces, guaranteeing that Italy stays a robust NATO ally able to working alongside probably the most superior air forces on this planet.
