Italy to buy 25 extra F-35 fighter jets under new budget

ROME — Italy is to purchase 25 extra F-35 jets as well as new Eurofighters as its defense procurement spending rises 16.8% this year to €9.3 billion, or $10.3 billion, a new budget document revealed on Tuesday.

Rome will also invest half a billion euros in 2024 on development of the Global Combat Air Programme sixth-generation fighter, the document stated.

The budget document, which gave the first breakdown of Italy’s 2024 defense spending as well as forecasts for 2025 and 2026, confirmed reports of a top-up F-35 order this year to add to the country’s previously planned purchase of 90 jets.

Italy will now spend €7 billion to acquire an extra 25 aircraft, including 15 F-35As and ten F-35Bs to take Italy’s F-35 fleet to 115 aircraft, the document stated.

The estimated outlay includes logistic support to 2035.

A defense source told Defense News that the 15 new F-35As would be operated by the Italian Air Force while the ten F-35Bs would be split between the Air Force and the Italian Navy.

The existing 90-plane order envisaged 60 F-35As and 15 F-35Bs for the Air Force and 15 F-35Bs for the Navy. Currently the Air Force and the Navy are due to fly their F-35Bs from the decks of the Italian Navy carrier Cavour.

The budget also freed up €50 million to adapt Italy’s new Landing Helicopter Dock, the Trieste, to host F-35Bs.

In 2009, Italy originally planned to order 131 F-35s, only to trim its order to 90 aircraft. The document stated that 131 was still Italy’s operational requirement, but added, “the increase (to 115 aircraft) will improve Italy’s geopolitical position.”

It added that Italy’s workshare on the program had totaled €4.7 billion by December 2023, with another €1.6 billion in revenue from Italy’s Final Assembly and Check Out line in northern Italy, which is being used by Italy and other European F-35 buyers.

The budget document also reported that €506 million is being invested in 2024 on the GCAP fighter program which teams Italy with the U.K. and Japan. The spending marks an increase from the €271 million invested in 2023.

After reports earlier this year that the U.K.’s new Labour government could pull out of the GCAP program , U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer gave reassurances during a visit to Rome on Monday.

“We agreed the vital importance of our collaborative defense programs, including GCAP,” Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a joint statement. “We welcome the continued progress we are making,” they added.

The document also reported that €690 million had been added to ongoing funding of the Eurofighter program to launch the purchase of 24 fourth-tranche jets to replace 26 first-tranche aircraft which will be phased out by 2029.

The 2024 budget includes a total of €20.85 billion in defense ministry spending, up from the €19.56 billion spent in 2023, which was in turn an increase on the €18 billion spent in 2022.

The part of the budget devoted to procurement stands at €7.5 billion, a 23% jump on last year’s €6.1 billion, which was in turn a 12.5% jump from the €5.42 billion spent in 2022.

For a true picture of Italian procurement spending the annual top-up for domestic procurement provided by the Italian industry ministry must be added, which amounts to €1.8 billion in 2024, down from last year’s €1.87 billion.

Nevertheless, the overall procurement total this year, combining defense ministry and industry ministry spending, is up by 16.8% to €9.31 billion from last year’s €7.97 billion, part of a consistent upwards trend in total procurement spending which has risen from €5.45 billion in 2020.

Of the total procurement spend, €488.5 million is set aside for new programs, the document stated.

Purchasing is due to start this year of 15 new M-346 trainer jets, built by Italian firm Leonardo, which will be used by the Italian Air Force’s acrobatic team, the document stated.

The Air Force announced last week it will switch to the M-346 after using the agiing M-339 for decades. The Frecce Tricolori had previously planned to introduce Leonardo’s M-345 jet - a more basic version of the M-346.

A source knowledgeable of the deal told Defense News the M-346 would allow the team to develop new maneuvers, carry out inflight refueling in order to get to overseas displays faster while keeping pilots combat-ready.

The first M-346s will enter service with the team next year, the source added.

In its section on possible future purchases which are yet to be funded, the document cited a €560 million program to acquire new maritime patrol aircraft, to be operated jointly by the Navy and Air Force.