inmeccanica-LM Team Works On Italian F-35 Net-centric...

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Finmeccanica-LM Team Works On Italian F-35 Net-centric Technology

ROME — As the political battle rumbles in Italy over whether to cut the purchase of F-35 joint strike fighters, the head of the Italian Air Force has claimed Italy’s Finmeccanica and Lockheed Martin will work together on network-centric technology.

Gen. Pasquale Preziosa said on May 13 that the two firms had signed an agreement three days earlier covering netcentric warfare systems for Italy’s 90 planned JSFs.

A source knowledgeable of the talks said the Italian government was behind the initiative. “The Italian government wants to launch a study and Finmeccanica and Lockheed Martin have signed a deal under which they would collaborate,” he said.

Cash for any consequent work would come from Italy, he said.

A second source added that any deal would help set up the JSF as a node in an Italian military network through data fusion. The details, he added, were still being worked out and more information would likely be made available at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK in July.

Preziosa’s announcement comes as Italian industry shows a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the JSF program due to a perceived lack of workshare and technology sharing.

Giuseppe Giordo, CEO of Alenia Aermacchi, the Finmeccanica unit building wing boxes for the aircraft, said on May 13 that it was “important” that Italy was signed up to the program, “which represents the next 20 years of aviation.”

But, he added, “We can either assure ourselves of a significant engineering presence on the JSF or risk having few qualified engineers [on the program]. I will be satisfied when we have engineering capacity [that can be used] for other programs.”

Italy’s work on the Eurofighter program, he added, had allowed it to develop technologies that it is now using in its work on the civil B787 program, which guarantees jobs in the south of Italy. Among those technologies is composite material work.

Giordo’s comments, made at a Rome conference next to Preziosa, followed those of outgoing Finmeccanica CEO Alessandro Pansa, who told the Italian Parliament in September that “Finmeccanica will not build its future as an operator of avant-garde technology by supplying parts of large aircraft.”

The relationship between Italian industry and US counterparts has also been hit by US decisions in recent years to cancel its buy of the Italian AW101 helicopter and to halt its purchase of the Italian C-27J tactical transport aircraft. The Italian military has seen the Medium Extended Air Defense System grind to a halt after the US pulled out of the Italian-German-US program, while Air Force officials have been irritated by the US refusal to allow Italy to arm its Predator and Reaper UAVs.

Finmeccanica unit Selex ES — which would likely handle the netcentric work under discussion — has so far obtained little work on the JSF; Alenia Aermacchi’s work on wings is distinct from cutting-edge electronics work.

Preziosa’s comments also come in the wake of a growing political battle over whether to keep, cut or even scrap the program.

The most vocal critic of the JSF is comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo, whose party has called the aircraft “useless.” Grillo made a surprise visit on May 14 to the final assembly and check-out line that Italy is building at its Cameri Air Base in northern Italy.

Grillo’s visit comes as his popularity rises to around 25 percent ahead of May 25 elections to the European Parliament, which do not affect the Italian government, but are seen as testing the popularity of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose Democratic Party is polling about 34 percent.

Renzi has suggested Italy’s purchase of 90 aircraft would be reduced after he took office in March.

On May 6, members of the Democratic Party sitting on a parliamentary defense commission produced a report on Italian defense that called for spending on the JSF program to be halved. A preliminary version of the report had called for the total purchases of JSFs to be cut from 90 to 45 aircraft, although those numbers were missing in the final report, which was approved by a vote taken in the commission. The report will not have the weight of law unless it is approved by the two houses of Parliament.

Emboldened by a recent law that hands them greater authority over procurement, members of Parliament are seeking to have the final word on JSF purchases. The government has meanwhile announced the production of a new white paper on defense — drawn up in part by the military — which will set out strategy, and consequently have a bearing on procurement.

Asked to comment on the moves in parliament to halve JSF purchases, Preziosa suggested he saw the white paper having more clout, stating, “The Ministry of Defense has said that the white paper will analyze threats and look at how to satisfy ambitions. All will have the possibility of giving evidence.”

Alenia has already seen its workload on wingboxes reduced when Italy cut its planned purchase of aircraft from 131 to 90, and CEO Giordo cautioned that the firm’s work could be cut again if Italy cut its order again.

“We risk having no industrial return,” he said.

The Rome conference was held by the Istituto Affari Internazionali think tank, which argues in a new report that the Italian Air Force must order the JSF to replace aging Tornadoes, AMX and AV-8 aircraft.

Source: http://www.defensenews.com/article/2014 ... Technology