Alongside aid to civilians, the list for anti-aircraft defense is becoming increasingly thinner in the Italian package for Kiev. For the next shipment, classified like all the others, there could be components that can still guarantee the operational capacity of the Italian-French Samp-T battery, already supplied in the past. But the availability of stocks of Aster missiles for Ukraine, the same ones that arm the "shield", would have run out. Aster missiles "we have to keep for ourselves", clarified Defense Minister Guido Crosetto
Hence the hypothesis that soon, if not immediately, Italy may also effectively suspend their supply, as Germany has already done for the Patriots. In this case the reasons would certainly be linked to the need to protect national security and not empty one's reserves. Likewise, the industry - in general - may not be able to guarantee new production quickly. For days, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has also specified that over time the threats have become limited and that there is no availability on certain requests from Kiev, which mainly concern air defense systems. It is no coincidence that the intensity of the packages has reduced over time.
This does not mean that support disappears. Russia is trying to bend the civilian population, attacking the possibility of warming up in winter: energy and electricity infrastructure have been in Moscow's sights for several months. This is why a significant part of the Italian package will concern generators and components to repair the bombed plants. The situation on the ground has therefore changed profoundly.
After Kiev's attempted counter-offensive, thanks to drones, Russian technology has now evolved exponentially, also thanks to the speed of the new Shaed automated aircraft: until recently the Ukrainian military was able to deal with 90% of attacks while now they stop 10%. Hence Kiev's request to the Allies for systems which, however, are difficult to obtain.
In light of the international scenarios, which do not only concern the conflict in Eastern Europe, Italy meanwhile accelerates the program for the acquisition of the F35 fighters, the cost of which has increased by over 7 billion euros: from the 13.5 billion euros expected in 2009 it has in fact risen to 20.8 billion, with the aircraft going from the initial 131 to 115 in the end. The estimates are contained in the specific decree of the Ministry of Defense sent to the Chambers: the commissions they now have until December 13th to express their opinion. The increase in spending is due to the "necessary review of security requirements", "the increase in costs for technological updates to the weapons system" and the "changes in inflation and the euro/dollar exchange rate recorded in recent years". The decree defines the annual allocations starting from 2027 (175 million euros) until 2039 (20 million). Criticism from the opposition, with Senator Alessandro Alfieri (Pd), who makes it known that he has obtained, as the Defense commission of Palazzo Madama, the postponement of the discussion relating to the decree: «Minister Crosetto must come to Parliament to discuss the multi-annual Defense planning document», he explains.
