Italy Approves Second Phase of F-35 Investment Program: Minister

(Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted Nov. 28, 2019)

PARIS --- Italy will continue with the investments required for its continued participation in the F-35 joint Strike Fighter program, Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini said during a Parliamentary hearing on Thursday morning.

His statement appears to end 18 months of uncertainty after the previous government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte failed to authorize the necessary payments and related orders. Guerini, who replaced the Five Star Movement’s Elisabetta Trenta at the defense ministry in Conte’s second government, is a member of the PD center-left party, which backs continued participation in the F-35 program.

“As the government aims to build on the investments made so far and seize the opportunities offered by the program, I’ve decided to give a green light to the phase two,” Reuters reported Guerini as saying during a parliamentary hearing on Thursday morning.

After having initially planned to order 131 F-35s, Italy cut back its procurement plans to 90 aircraft in February 2012, split between 60 F-35A CTOL variants and 30 F-35B STOVL variants.

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