At the end of February, the Italian Navy received the "Carlo Margottini", the third FREMM frigate frigate. These represent the most important joint military program in Europe, with a total investment of 11 billion, divided between France, 6,5 billion, and Italy, 4,5.
The funds will be allocated by the Ministry for Economic Development and Defense.
The companies participating in the project are: the Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, established by Fincantieri and Finmeccanica, and the French company Armaris. In particular, the development program covers: Selex Sistemi Integrati, Oto Melara, ELT and Wass, a productive sector of great importance for the economy and for national technology, with important social capital and a high level of employment ; Finmeccanica alone has over 39.000.
The Italian ELT, acronym of Elettronica, is one of the leading European companies in the production of electronic defense equipment, this translates into the ability to intercept, monitor and monitor the electromagnetic scenario. The instruments derived from ELT designs are applied to aircraft and surface units, therefore self-protection systems for early warning and electronic countermeasures. ELT, mainly develops self-defense systems in the naval and aeronautical field with ELINT / ESM, ie electronic espionage and countermeasures, currently in use on FREMM frigates, on Eurofighter fighters and remotely controlled aircraft. These devices are also part of the instrumentation of specialized platforms for patrolling and reconnaissance.
ELT's future is focused on the study of systems to protect against cybernetic attacks on multi-sensor data exchange networks, in particular the Galileo satellite. The disturbance to GPS signals is one of the most concrete threats, the example is in the cyber crash of a US UAV aircraft while flying over Iranian territory for espionage purposes. A prototype of ELINT, developed by ELT, mounted right on a remote controlled aircraft and hooked to a surface unit, has allowed the ship itself to gain access to an important extension of its ability to analyze the opposing electromagnetic emissions. it has increased both the strategic function for the accurate control of the emission sources for data acquisition, and the tactical one for surveillance, thus increasing the offensive projection for electronic warfare.
The reference market for the Italian company is that of the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, where, in collaboration with Fincantieri and Finmeccanica, it could obtain contracts worth more than 6 billion dollars.
Giovanni Caprara
