Giorgia Meloni with the other G7 leaders in Hiroshima
US green light to the F-16s in Ukraine, Meloni takes time but there is no from Salvini and Berlusconi
“I welcome the historic decision by the United States and its president to support an international coalition of fighter jets. This will greatly improve our army in the sky. I plan to discuss the practical implementation of this decision at the G7 summit in Hiroshima”. Thus, in a tweet, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, the US National Security AdvisorJake Sullivan, confirmed to reporters in Hiroshima that President Joe Biden had told his G7 counterparts that the United States would support a joint effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets, but specifying that “now is not the time” for using these aircraft in the conflict.
“Now that we have delivered everything we said we would deliver so that we can enable the Ukrainians to make progress on the battlefield, we have reached the time to look down the road and say what Ukraine will need as part of a future force to be able to defend against Russian aggression. Fourth-generation F16 fighter jets are part of that,” Sullivan said. However, he added, “our view is that now is not the time to use F16s in combat.” Finally, Sullivan reiterated that the military equipment supplied to Ukraine is not intended to launch attacks on Russian territory.
The Meloni government, according to the Fatto Quotidiano, takes time. “Italy, like France and Germany, in fact does not have the F-16 aircraft available which instead would be provided by a group of countries led by the United Kingdom and composed of Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. But it is probable that Italy will also be asked to play its part at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July”.
Il Fatto Quotidiano continues: “Not having the F-16s, Italy could give its green light indirectly. The hypothesis of sending the Eurofighters nor the F-35s does not seem on the table, but it may not oppose the sending of the Thypoon by the United Kingdom: these aircraft are produced by a consortium also formed by Spain, Germany, Italy”.
Meanwhile, again according to the Fact “nella Lega and Forza Italia no one wanted to openly comment on the US decision to open to fighters. But the position of Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi is always the same: “No to offensive weapons that can produce an escalation”, is the sense of reasoning in the two allied parties”.
Italian arms exports soar: Türkiye and the USA in the lead
Meanwhile, however, the export of Italian arms to the world continues to increase. Il Fatto Quotidiano gives an account of the content of the government’s annual report on arms exports which was presented by the Presidency of the Council to Parliament on the basis of law no. 185 of 1990 and not yet published.
“In 2022, government authorizations for the export of military materials produced in Italy reached 5 billion and 289 million euros, 13.5% more than the value of 2021 “, writes the Fatto. “The increase is 627.9 million (+ 14%). In 2021, the authorizations amounted to 4.661 billion, an amount in line with that authorized in 2020”.
The sector is dominated by the former Finmeccanica, today Leonardo. “The group is ninth in the world in defense by revenues in 2022, equal to 14.7 billion, 80% generated by contracts in the defense and government sectors. In 2022, Leonardo’s authorized exports amount to 1.8 billion, followed by IDV (Exor-Iveco) with 539.3 million, Mbda Italy (rocket) with 304 million”, continues Il Fatto. Among the recipient countries, Turkey and the United States are in the lead. But the Emirates and Saudi Arabia are also in the first places.
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