Il Navy Report 2024 paints a complex and challenging picture for the Italian Navy, engaged in a geopolitical scenario marked by conflicts, strategic competition and emerging threats. With over 8.000 km of coastline and an intrinsic maritime vocation, Italy confirms its position at the centre of the wider Mediterranean, increasingly projecting itself on a global scale.
Among the most significant results of 2024 stands out the entry of the aircraft carrier Nave Trieste, the new backbone of Italian projection capacity, and the full operability of the carrier strike groups with the F-35B, an achievement that places us alongside the United States and the United Kingdom in the very select NATO club of those who possess this advanced capability.
Il Relationship It also highlights the crucial role of the Navy in protecting critical underwater infrastructure by developing the integrated network of critical underwater infrastructure security center and collaborating with industrial players such as Saipem, ENI and TIM Sparkle. On the technological front, the naval innovation compass leads the development of new weapons, sensors and digital capabilities, looking at the integration of unmanned systems and artificial intelligence.
Operational activities have touched all global quadrants: from the Indo-Pacific (with the Cavour and Montecuccoli) to the Arctic (with Ship Alliance), from the Red Sea (where Houthi attacks were faced) to the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea. In the Mediterranean alone, tensions with the Russian fleet required constant presence and readiness.
On the human side, 2024 saw an increase of 500 units in staff, the launch of plans to improve well-being, housing and training, and the introduction of new digital tools to speed up internal processes. Particular attention was given to the improvement of naval bases – with an investment of almost 2 billion by 2037 – and to the strengthening of organizational well-being.
Finally, the Relationship reaffirms the centrality of maritime values: honor, discipline, courage, belonging, resilience. Because being a sailor, as the text says, It means being part of a great history, of a community that always looks beyond the horizon, united for the safety and prosperity of Italy..
