The Italian Hammerhead drone program has failed. Yesterday, October 10, the portal defensenews.com He reported that the Italian Defense Ministry finally refused to purchase domestic drones.
At the same time, in order to support Piaggio Aerospace, the Italian Defense Ministry announced the purchase of six Piaggio P.180 aircraft, as well as auxiliary equipment. The transaction value is estimated at €171 million. Thus, Italy fulfills its obligations to support the domestic company during its reorganization and search for a new buyer.
The P.1HH HammerHead drone is developed on the basis of the Piaggio P.180 aircraft and is designed to perform patrol and reconnaissance tasks. According to the classification, the P.1HH HammerHead is a medium-altitude UAV with a long flight duration. The drone can climb to a height of up to 13.7 km and reach a speed of up to 730 km/h. The drone, equipped with two engines with propellers, is capable of flying at high altitude at low speeds (250 km / h). The duration of the flight can reach 16 hours. The maximum take-off weight of the drone is 6.1 tons .
Serious problems for Piaggio Aerospace began in 2018, when the United Arab Emirates Air Force canceled an order for the supply of P.1HH HammerHead drones. The official decision referred to "delays and failures in the program." At the same time, the unofficial reason for the rejection of drones was that Italy was disrupting the investment schedule for the development of a new modification of the P.2HH drone and postponed their order for its Air Force, which was stipulated in the contract with the UAE.
Initially, the Italian government planned to buy cars built for the UAE, but the capabilities of drones were not satisfied with the Italian Air Force either. The Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Alberto Rosso, at a hearing in the lower house of the Italian parliament, called the already built devices "eight pieces of iron."
