Having an aerospace tool ready is a key element to face the aggressions of the present and the future. And what the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Luca Goretti underlined, intervened at a hearing before the joint defense committees of the Chamber and Senate. “The use of aerospace power is decisive – explained the general – must clean the air in such a way that those who arrive on the ground do not find contrast”. For this reason, among the first requests of Kiev under siege there were more fighters and the no-fly zone. “We saw it in Ukraine, where sites of the anti-aircraft system were hit: you always need a protective umbrella”. It is no coincidence, underlined Goretti, that as a deterrent, NATO first deployed all the planes to cover the territory. “The Air Force always comes first”. The Italian commitment
Italy, among other things, is at the forefront in the defense of the Euro-Atlantic space, above all through aerial assets for the safety of the skies of Romania, where 170 soldiers are permanently engaged, with as many activated for carrying out missions of support and management of the complex flight activity at the Aerospace Operations Command of Ferrara. “To these must be added all the personnel in the preparation phase engaged in the NATO contingents of high operational readiness for a further seven hundred units”, described Goretti. For Italy it is a total commitment of more than a thousand soldiers. Dangerous skies
Goretti also issued a warning: “We are practically less than twenty miles from the border, we must pay attention to our air defense activities: a mere nothing is enough to cross the border and find ourselves at war”. The attention of the crews, therefore, must be directed to that “now things must be done in compliance with the rules, avoiding being caught up in the heat, because there could be attempts to get the aircraft into Ukrainian territory, which would be the end”. Goretti also recalled the doubling in just two days of the number of Eurofighter fighters in the service of NATO in the surveillance and security of the skies in Romania, “supported and authorized, in line with government intentions”. The reduction of forces
The commander of the Blue Army also took advantage of the hearing to complain that the illusion of being able to live in peace has led to the reduction of aircraft supplied “also due to the erroneous belief that a higher technological level can compensate for an ever smaller quantity” . According to what the general said, in fact, the aviation went from 842 aircraft to just five hundred, of which less than three hundred with combat functions. “A wait-and-see sizing of the force is wrong – said Goretti – considering the traditional ratio of one to three for maintenance and readiness needs, the Air Force now has less than one hundred aircraft available that can be used continuously in crisis scenarios”. Cooperation between the Armed Forces
For the Air Force, moreover, “it is important to work in synergy with the Army and with the naval component, we must overcome dichotomies, envy and personalities: either we all work together or we don’t go anywhere”, continued the head by Sma, who also added “We are on a honeymoon”. The relationships between the various components of the Armed Forces, defined as “sisters” by Goretti, are in fact fruitful, devoid of ideological conditioning and oriented towards awareness and respect for their specific characteristics. “The same can be said for the Defense General Secretariat, with which we work in full harmony to guide industrial developments to actual military needs”. The spatial dimension
General Goretti also illustrated the expansion of the air domain towards the space one: “Technological innovation has expanded the air domain by at least five times, creating an osmotic interconnection in operational and technological terms between sky and space”. For Goretti, the threat has already evolved, lapping the upper layers of the atmosphere and even the lower Earth’s orbits. “These phenomena make aerospace more complex to manage and defend, forcing the Armed Force to undertake a fundamental evolutionary process”, commented the general. Industrial synergies for development
“It is important to strengthen the triad of development, the essential relationship between institutions, industry and the academic world”, said Goretti, underlining how much this synergy can guarantee the right technological advantage to the country and the industrial capacity to innovate it. “The rapid evolution of the sector requires the timely search for solutions”. For this, it will be necessary to reduce the time between the definition of the requirements and the delivery to the Armed Force of a capacity “and imperative if we want to have systems adequately updated and effective in good time”. According to Goretti, the air force cannot lag behind technological advances. “For example, technology is developing strong propulsion helicopters, and you need to be there in order to understand how much this operation pays.” For this, for the general, synergy with industry will be increasingly fundamental: “This was done with the F-35. The same thing will be done for the Future vertical lift (Fvl), a weapon system that cannot be ignored for the future “.Objective 2%
The general also intervened on the budget needs that should be allocated to the Defense. “It is necessary to appreciate the growth path of defense investment, guaranteed by the full support of Parliament, which can allow, over time, to tend to the 2% required by the Atlantic Alliance” also through the establishment of the multi-year investment fund for Defense in the last two budget laws, “which I hope will be refinanced in the next few years”, continued Goretti. Drones for the Air Force
The Chief of Staff also had the opportunity to address the two commissions to stimulate a reflection on remotely piloted aircraft: “I asked myself a question about whether to restart the authorization process aimed at arming them, in order to finally equip them with a component of engagement on the ground “, said Goretti, who added:” This ability can be used to reduce the risk of loss of human life, we do not want to use them but having them means having this ability, while not having them and having to be forced to use them means that it is not certain that we will find them later on the market “.
