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Italy prepares for confined straits
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By Luca Peruzzi
Continuous budget reductions over the last few years and the anticipated transition to an all-professional force are putting tremendous pressure on the Italian Navy, requiring new resources in order to reverse the way towards a prospected decline of assets and personnel.
In general, the navy’s high operational tempo of the last five years has required the service to concentrate its shrinking running and investment funds on maintaining selected vessels and aircraft in high readiness. Amongst other consequences, this action resulted in the navy removing two Ardito-class destroyers and ITS Alpino frigate from the front line and putting them in reserve.
The situation has been exacerbated by heavy cuts in both running and investment funding in the 2006 defence budget. Spending on military personnel for the Italian Navy in the current year totals EUR1.41 billion (USD1.8 billion) - up 28.6 per cent on 2005. Running costs amount to EUR256.8 million (down a substantial 43.1 per cent) and investment spending to EUR 302.5 million (down 57.9 per cent).
These cuts forced the navy to reduce its sailing hours considerably - by roughly 50 per cent for this year. To accomplish international and most important national commitments, however, it is obliged to act on training and non-operative sailing hours, while keeping maintenance and upgrade activities to a minimum, to maintain safety conditions.
Rear Admiral Rinaldo Veri, Chief of Navy HQ’s General Planning Department, recognises that this parlous state of affairs will prove a real challenge to the navy.
"A contingent situation of reduced efficiency due to a shortage of resources can easily evolve, in a two to three years period, into a pronounced decline of assets and personnel," he tells Jane’s. "This is a dangerous process, which can prove irreversible."
Equipment modernisation
Against this background, the navy is attempting to modernise, revitalize and expand its capabilities.
Foremost of these is the drive to get the navy’s new flagship, ITS Cavour, into service and the carrier’s fitting out period at Fincantieri’s Muggiano (La Spezia) shipyard is actually proceeding ahead of plans.
The navy has also embarked on a programme to recapitalise its surface combatant capabilities. The two 34-year old Audace-class destroyers will be replaced by two Orizzonte (Horizon) programme vessels: ITS Andrea Doria and ITS Caio Duilio.
In April 2006, the Italian government freed up allocated funds for the first batch of 10 new-generation bi-national FREMM (Bergamini-class) frigates designed with France.
While the first two units are being funded by the Ministry of Industry, no decision has yet been taken on how to finance the following batches within the Navy budget or with ad-hoc funding.
Meanwhile, the navy has embarked on an upgrade path to extend the lifespan of four of the Maestrale-class frigates - ITS Libeccio, ITS Espero, ITS Scirocco and ITS Zeffiro - until the delivery of the new FREMM.
However, the budget’s impact is being felt here too. Scirocco and Zeffiro entered the work period in 2005, but the planned activities on the two sister-units and the two destroyers are now being postponed due to budget cuts.
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