In the war of the future, decision-making superiority will make the difference. It concerns the ability to collect, process and distribute information in the shortest possible time, transforming everything into useful information for decision makers. This is why Italy has decided to equip itself with new “spy planes”, more properly identifiable as “multi-mission and multi-sensor aerial platforms”. Yesterday the US State Department gave its green light to the possible sale to our country of two Gulfstream G550s, the aircraft on which the plans of our Armed Forces are based. WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SAYS
According to the State Department, the sale could be worth $ 500 million. In addition to the two aircraft, it concerns the heart of the set-up, described in the acronym Aisrew: on-board systems for intelligence, surveillance, recognition and electronic warfare. Then there are the related equipment: radar, radio systems, GPS, sensors for alert, sets for electronic countermeasures, infrared systems, secure communications and ground systems for data management. Services for technical and logistical support, certification and flight tests are also provided. The main contractor will be L3Harris, one of the major players in American defense. BETWEEN THE TWO SHORES OF THE ALTANTIC
The program to equip the Armed Forces with new C4Istar platforms was introduced as a novelty in the multiannual programmatic document presented last month in Parliament by Minister Lorenzo Guerini. And then he landed on the competent commissions as a ministerial decree scheme, the first step to be able to proceed with the subsequent technical-administrative activities and then the contractual ones. On the US side, it is no coincidence that the go-ahead from the State Department concerns a “possible” sale. The green light of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) lets the ball pass to Congress, which will have to approve the dossier before a contract can be signed. “This sale proposal – explains the DSCA – will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States, helping to improve the security of a NATO ally, an important partner for political and economic stability in Europe”. It is also stressed that the Italian forces will have no difficulty in integrating the systems in question between their ranks,THE NEEDS
On the Italian side, the needs of the Armed Forces are well described in the technical sheet attached to the draft decree that arrived in Parliament. The new “multi-mission and multi-sensor aerial platform” is configured as a joint-force program, for now with its “phase 1”, ie a first tranche of 1.2 billion until 2032, for a total duration of the program that should extend until 2056. They will be aircraft equipped with advanced systems for reconnaissance, surveillance, monitoring and intelligence, to be included in the renewed net-centric approach of Defense. THE WHY OF THE PURCHASE
The general secretariat of the dicastery has already specified that “the reference platform of the new system is represented by the Gulfstream Gm550 commercial aircraft, particularly versatile and therefore easily convertible into high-profile militarized versions”. The Caew already supplied to the Air Force is based on the same platform, the result of the modifications made to the G-550 by the American Gulfstream and the Israeli Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, which equipped the aircraft with the valuable mission systems. On the other hand, SegreDifesa highlighted “the non-feasibility of launching an exclusively national program due to the complexity of the system (as defined by the operational requirement) and the extended schedule of the program”.BETWEEN USA AND ISREAEL
From here the look towards the United States and Israel. The program was illustrated in Parliament by General Nicolo Falsaperna last November 16, the day of Minister Guerini’s lightning visit to Tel Aviv. Li, in the meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz , the owner of Palazzo Baracchini expressed his desire “to further develop the areas of cooperation in the specific defense sector, a collaboration that contributes both to the respective security of Countries, and to further positive repercussions in industrial terms “.
