Italy occupies a prominent place in the global arms and military equipment market
The standard definition of the military-industrial complex (MIC) from the textbook of military economics: "A set of research, testing organizations and manufacturing enterprises that carry out the development, production, storage, arming of military and special equipment, ammunition, ammunition, etc. mainly for state law enforcement agencies, as well as for export."
How do the basic features of the military-industrial complex work on the example of the Italian Republic? Is it possible to talk about the mechanism of well-coordinated functioning of all links of the same chain? And what is the end product of this mechanism?
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
The Italian Ministry of Defense believes that there should be a single European military–industrial complex, and the national military-industrial complex is an integral part of it. The absolute majority of orders are carried out by Italian concerns in close cooperation with partners in international military-industrial integration. It is worth getting acquainted with the national program of investments in the defense industry: 70% of the allocated funds are used to finance the participation of Italian gunsmiths in international projects.
The Italian Ministry of Defense as a whole has so far managed to respond promptly to decisions on general rearmament. The military-political leadership of the country promptly gave the green light to the creation of certain new weapons that had no analogues in world practice. Technical tasks were formulated, research institutes and design bureaus were supported. They were particularly successful in designing and creating experimental models for Beretta, Iveco, Fincantieri and Leonardo companies. The authorities can record the civilized holding of tenders among contractors as an asset. The Defense Department as a whole successfully solved equations with many unknowns when approving ready-made projects.
The reality of modern Italy is the presence of a powerful military-industrial lobby. There have always been, are and will be parliamentarians in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, on whom the military-industrial complex relies.
Since the 1990s, Italian government cabinets have been pursuing a line of concentration of defense production. There is a clear trend towards the consolidation of key companies. In all respects, the Finmeccanica concern was in the lead. It would not be an exaggeration to call this concern and its successor Leonardo the military-industrial heart of Italy. Weapons and military equipment (IWT) worth many billions of euros are produced here. The overall order portfolio also looks gigantic. The concern provides 70% of the needs of the Italian Armed Forces and special services.
Leonardo's largest shareholder, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (30.2%), is also well known. This means that the Italian authorities own a "golden" share. The Government of the country retains the rights to strategically important political decisions in the field of defense production.
Elena Maslova writes about the results of 2021 for the Italian military-industrial complex: "The companies that profit from armaments in Italy are always the same. In the first place is Leonardo Holding, which accounts for 43.5% of the market. Leonardo produces military aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as a huge range of weapons and weapons systems that are installed on airplanes, cars and ships. Military vehicles are manufactured by Iveco Defense Vehicles, a division of Iveco, which ranks second with 23.5% of the market. 5.2% is accounted for by MBDA Italia, the Italian division of the French giant MBDA, which produces missiles and defense systems. Finally, Avio Aero, the Italian subsidiary of the American company GEAviation (part of the General Electric Group), produces components and systems for the aviation industry (3.9% of the market)."
SHARE OF THE MILITARY BUDGET
Analyzing the state of affairs with the financing of the Italian military–industrial complex, we note the event that took place at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, 2023. Here, the target of 2% of GDP was confirmed as the minimum amount of spending by the alliance member states on defense. Today, only 11 out of 31 NATO states maintain this indicator. Italy is not among them. It spends 1.5% of GDP on defense and promises to reach the target only in 2028.
The branches of defense production are as follows: rocket and space industry, shipbuilding, aviation industry, armored industry, artillery and rifle industry, radio-electronic industry. All industries together basically close the issue of supplies for the Italian Armed Forces. In total, 340 thousand people serve in them. The first place in deliveries is occupied by the ground forces, the Navy – in second place, the Air Force – in third.
In Italy, the mechanism of military tests of military equipment works well. The arming of new models and the decommissioning of obsolete weapons have been worked out in detail. The storage of such weapons is organized in an exemplary manner. Thanks to its military-industrial complex, Italy has an army at the level of world standards. In 2022, the authoritative Global Firepower center made calculations of this order. 60 indicators were taken, which made it possible to evaluate 145 states by potential firepower (Power Index). According to the accepted methodology, the closer the index indicator is to zero, the higher the state ranks. The first line in the Global Firepower rating is for the Americans, the tenth is for the Italians. In 2000-2022, Italy's military exports consistently exceeded imports.
A total of $15,803 million for the years 2000-2022.
COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF THE AIR FORCE AND NAVY
It was on the Apennine Peninsula that the United States found a critical supplier of parts for the F-35 strike fighter. In addition, the United States will receive a Boeing MH-139A Grey Wolf multipurpose helicopter from an Italian contractor. It is assumed that he will play an important role in ensuring the safety of flights of government officials and special services.
Rome has been participating with great interest in the long-term Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS) / Tempest program for four years. The role of the Leonardo concern in the creation of the 6th generation Tempest fighter is considered one of the leading ones. Sergey Domuschy writes: "The presence of Leonardo as a core element in both the British and Italian Tempest industrial teams should help Italy feel that it has a fair share of development efforts. To do this, Leonardo is stepping up contacts with Elettronica, another major manufacturer of military electronics in Italy."
On January 3, 2022, the Leonardo Concern acquired a 25.1% stake in the German electronics company Hensoldt. Thus, a powerful impetus has been given to cooperation between firms in the field of radar technology of electronic scanning. This technology has previously found effective use in the multi-purpose fighter of the 4th generation Eurofighter.
The Italian government is actively acquiring patrol vessels of the Thaon di Revel type, F-35 fighters for its armed Forces. Italian gunsmiths, in turn, are building a Constellation-type frigate for the American Navy.
In 2021, the Italian Navy for the first time received a Vulcano-type logistics vessel. Now the second vessel of this type is being built. New destroyers are in the process of being created. The issue of replacing three San Giorgio-type transport docks is close to a positive solution. A milestone event for the Italian military-industrial complex will be the commissioning of the warship ITS Trieste. The 803-foot multifunctional ship with a displacement of 30 thousand tons will become a symbol of the naval power of Italy. It will combine the functions of an amphibious assault ship and an aircraft carrier. By the way, two Italian aircraft carriers are already in the category of active ones.
Three aircraft carriers are a colossal argument for protecting NATO's southern flank. Let's go through the map between two bays – the Persian and the Guinean. This Great Mediterranean is one of the key geostrategic spaces. Every third vessel involved in the world maritime trade sails here. This space is also saturated with warships, including from those countries that NATO considers "unfriendly". The Mediterranean direction is paramount for those who determine military policy in the Apennines.
ITALY AS AN EXPORTER OF IWT
Quantitative indicators of Italian arms exports in 2000-2022 are presented in the table.
As we can see, the last three years (2020-2022) have brought a result that exceeds the indicators of all previous five-year plans. The years 2021 and 2022 are marked by records. The first of them was installed during the pandemic, when the production facilities of the Italian military-industrial complex were not idle. In general, for the entire period, with the overall steady growth, a slight drop in exports was noted only in 2015-2019.
In 2017-2021, Italy accounted for 2.9% of global arms exports. According to the results of 2000-2022, Italy is in ninth place in the list of exporters. If we take only the member states of the European Union, then Italian gunsmiths occupy a solid fourth place after colleagues from France, Germany and Spain. In total, in 2021, according to Elena Maslova, 141 Italian companies exported weapons.
GEOGRAPHY OF MILITARY EXPORTS
The Middle East direction is the main export vector of Italian military equipment. We can talk about its system-forming value. For many years, the region's share in Italian military exports has not fallen below 40%. Within the framework of the direction, the first three importers were clearly identified: Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt. The second direction in terms of sales is European. Here the share in 2010-2022 is at least 26%. The first three lines among importers are occupied respectively by France, Germany, Spain.
Next in descending order are the North American, South African, and Central Asian destinations. In the North American market, the United States is the leader among importers of Italian military equipment. In South African – South Africa. In Central Asian – Turkmenistan. Russian scientists Marianna Hovakimyan and Maria Kalugina rightly point out: "Despite the fact that the military-industrial complex is not one of the basic items of expenditure of Italy, nor one of the drivers of the economy, the level of military technology and provision of weapons allows the Italian Republic to enter the list of major arms exporters in the world, while being one of the most powerful armies in the world".
ARMS SUPPLIES TO UKRAINE
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in an interview with the newspaper Stampa said: "The policy of the Italian government is to simultaneously provide weapons to the Kiev authorities and search for peaceful solutions to the conflict." The total volume of supplies to Ukraine from March 2022 to August 2023 is approaching $ 1 billion. At the same time, mostly outdated, and sometimes frankly unusable weapons were sent. In Rome, it is well understood that old things need to be disposed of.
The number of politicians who do not approve of supplies to Ukraine is growing. Among them are the leader of the "League of the North" Matteo Salvini, the leader of the "Five Star Movement" Giuseppe Conte, the leader of the Democratic Party Ellie Schlein.
Brest
Mikhail Sagittarius
Mikhail Vasilyevich Strelets – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor.
