The decision of the Chamber mainly concerns the revision of the originally planned financial budget. With 275 votes in favor, 45 against and 152 abstaining, the number of aircraft that will be purchased has been halved.
The Defense Committee of the Chamber has analyzed the economic and industrial return, including the occupational and technological values, which are in fact implicated in this affair, but evidently the ten thousand jobs, also generated by the related, have not convinced the Chamber .
In the approval text it is specified that the necessary requisites are required to maintain control over the compliance and safety of the weapon system, compared to the needs of the Italian Armed Forces, and this means that the first units will be put on line only when their efficiency will have met all the required criteria. Obvious element and pursued since the beginning of the design. Therefore it is possible to deduce that the quality of the aircraft when it was delivered to operational departments was never in question, as was its cost.
Meanwhile, however, all the commitments regarding collaboration and participation in international missions have been reconfirmed. But by deciding the halving of the fighters, which should protect the Italian soldiers in operations abroad, one of the fundamental principles for guaranteeing the safety of soldiers commanded in actions in high-risk areas is lacking.
This implies that the protection of the Italian military will be left to the Allies, and the Cavour aircraft carrier will have limited employment.
Giovanni Caprara
(photo: Lockeed Martin)
