The Italian role in the F-35 program is growing. Last Friday, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth over $ 9 million for works on the Italian site of Cameri, in the province of Novara, the only assembly and final verification (Faco) line for fifth generation aircraft in Europe , also committed to the creation of wing arrangements. THE CONTRACT
In detail, the contract includes “labor, planning of engineering change orders, installation and support activities”, all for the Cameri site, and in particular for the “modification, repair, overhaul and regional update for the F -35 for the Italian government “. 85% of the works financed by the contract will be carried out at the Novara plant (the remaining 15% in Fort Worth, Texas), with completion expected by the end of the year. PRODUCTION
For Italy, the overseas contract confirms the growth prospects for the employment and economic returns of participation in the F-35 program, returns that have long been at the center of political attention. Membership of the Joint Strike Fighter rests first of all on the operational needs of the Armed Forces; then, on the transatlantic position and on relations with the American ally. Finally, precisely on the prospects of industrial return, at the center of which is the Cameri site (which assembles Italian and Dutch aircraft) with over a thousand employees, at the head of a wide supply chain ranging from big to many SMEs distributed on the Peninsula . In 2019 the program was worth 63 million euros in exports for Italian companies, an increase compared to 20 in 2018.EUROPEAN FIRSTS (AND NOT ONLY)
The F-35 was built in Cameri which, as the first in the history of the program, made an ocean flight in February 2016. Two years later, again from the Italian plant, the first F-35 with short take-off and vertical landing ( B) assembled outside the United States. Industrial firsts followed by the operational ones of the Air Force, the first European armed force to declare the operational capacity of fifth generation aircraft and the first in NATO to use them in an operation of the Atlantic Alliance (in Iceland, for air policing missions, already two in less than a year). Primates that have helped to make Italy emerge as a protagonist of the fifth generation in Europe, with the aim of capturing more work for Cameri (and supply chain) from the new countries that adhere to the program.POLITICAL ATTENTION
A bipartisan goal by now. In November last year, the yellow-red majority resolved the political knot on the program with a resolution (with the positive opinion of the executive) to “evaluate the program over time”. Beyond the lexical formulas, it represented the compromise between the forces that support the executive, with the disappearance of the terms “renegotiation” and “remodeling”, in favor of a substantial confirmation of commitments accompanied by a more evaluative attitude. The third point of the resolution also found the opposition vote in favor (477 yes out of 482 voters). He asked the government to enhance the investments made in Cameri and to “further expand the areas of international cooperation in the aerospace and defense fields, in order to maximize economic returns,THE LINE FROM WASHINGTON TO ROME
To read the contract awarded to Lockheed Martin by the Pentagon, the line seems to have been confirmed overseas as well. Already last June, the US industrial giant had received an order worth 368 million dollars for six F-35s destined for Italy, as part of production lot 14. In addition to certifying the drop in costs (below 80 million for a conventional version aircraft), that contract also authorized the “common capability scope”, so that the assembly and final inspection line of Cameri, recipients of 28% of the work, is involved in the processing. RECENT BETS
For Italy, the commitments up to lot 14 are specified in the Defense multi-year programmatic document (Dpp 2019-2021), which reads the purchase program of 28 total aircraft up to 2022. These numbers include the six contracted aircraft with Lockheed Martin in June. For the following lots (from 2023 onwards) the go-ahead to proceed from Minister Lorenzo Guerini has arrived for months , for the well-known plan of 90 total aircraft between the Air Force and the Navy. Yet, last April, the political debate started to ignite again. The first signed question by the head of the M5S group in the Foreign Commission at Palazzo Madama Gianluca Ferrara has reached the Minister of Defense(with about fifty party comrades). We asked to suspend the program for a year and to reassess it as a whole so as to allocate more resources to health. The Pd (and Italia Viva) intervened compactly, ready to defend the strategic choice for transatlantic relations, the operations of the Armed Forces and returns for industry. Line reaffirmed on these columns by Lorenzo Guerini .
