Italy unveils €31 billion defense budget with NATO target in mind

ROME — Italy is spending €31.3 billion ($36.2 billion) on defense this year, the country’s defense ministry has announced in a long awaited budget document released on Thursday.

The figure is up 7.2% on last year’s spending of just over €29 billion, but is set to remain stable in 2026 and 2027, the ministry stated.

Italy has come under pressure this year to increase spending, as NATO calls on members to hit 5% of GDP by 2035, up from a previous target of 2%.

Italy’s spending last year amounted to only 1.54% of GDP, but Rome promised it would reach two percent in 2025. The new document announces that on top of the regular defense budget, a host of outlays that have been recategorized as defense spending have been added into the ledger, including pension payments and parts of the paramilitary Carabinieri police.

In the process the €31.3 billion defense budget rises to €45.3 billion in spending, enough to qualify for the 2% target, the ministry said.

The document gives a breakdown on spending this year for each program, but in a departure from tradition does not state the total amount of procurement funding which has been budgeted this year.

It does say that defense ministry procurement funding will total €35 billion over the next 15 years.

In the list of programs to be financed this year, there is €100 million to upgrade Italy’s aging Ariete tanks, €50 million to continue the development of new Panther tanks with Germany’s Rheinmetall and €130 million for new Lynx fighting vehicles.

As the planned Italian F-35 fleet grows from 90 to 115, there are €735 million for the program and €625 million for work on the GCAP fighter with the UK and Japan.

Italian officials have said they are considering buying the Japanese Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft to tackle hostile submarines in the Mediterranean. Without specifying what platform will be purchased, the document says six will be bought, with an initial €30 million to kickstart the program in 2027.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——意大利国防部周四公布了一份期待已久的预算文件，宣布意大利今年将在国防上花费 313 亿欧元（362 亿美元）。

该部表示，这一数字比去年略高于 290 亿欧元的支出增长了 7.2%，但预计在 2026 年和 2027 年将保持稳定。

今年，意大利面临着增加开支的压力，因为北约要求成员国到 2035 年将国防开支提高到 GDP 的 5%，高于此前设定的 2% 的目标。

意大利去年的国防开支仅占国内生产总值的1.54%，但罗马承诺到2025年将达到2%。新文件宣布，除了常规的国防预算外，还新增了一系列重新归类为国防开支的项目，包括养老金支付和部分宪兵队的开支。

该部表示，在此过程中，313亿欧元的国防预算增加到453亿欧元，足以达到2%的目标。

该文件详细列出了今年每个项目的支出明细，但与以往不同的是，它没有说明今年预算的采购资金总额。

报告指出，国防部未来15年的采购资金总额将达到350亿欧元。

在今年拟资助的项目清单中，有 1 亿欧元用于升级意大利老旧的 Ariete 坦克，5000 万欧元用于继续与德国莱茵金属公司合作开发新型 Panther 坦克，以及 1.3 亿欧元用于新型 Lynx 战车。

随着意大利计划将 F-35 机队规模从 90 架增加到 115 架，该计划获得了 7.35 亿欧元的资金，另有 6.25 亿欧元用于与英国和日本合作研发 GCAP 战斗机。

意大利官员表示，他们正在考虑购买日本川崎P-1海上巡逻机，以应对地中海地区的敌对潜艇。文件并未具体说明将购买哪种型号，但指出将购买六架，首期拨款3000万欧元，用于在2027年启动该项目。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。