Meloni vows defense hike as Italy’s generals announce shopping lists

ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to drop Italy’s traditional reticence about discussing defense spending and boost budgets as her generals demand more weapons and personnel.

Addressing the Italian senate this week, Meloni said: “We have never hidden the fact we want to increase military spending, just as previous governments have done albeit on the sly without coming clean.”

She added, “We will do it, convinced that respecting commitments is vital to protecting national sovereignty and credibility.”

Meloni, whose right-wing government took office last year, appeared to be targeting the Five Star party, which oversaw defense budget hikes during its time as a partner in three government coalitions between 2018 and 2022 even as it criticized military spending.

Previous Italian governments have traditionally kept quiet about military spending to avoid criticism from the Catholic Church.

Last month, Meloni’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said Italy was aiming to reach the defense spending target of 2% of GDP set down by NATO, which has reported Italy’s current total equals 1.51%.

“Freedom has a price and if you are not able to defend yourself, someone else will do it for you, but will not do it for free. They will impose their interests, even if they differ from yours, and I don’t think this was ever good business for anyone,” Meloni told parliament.

Italy budgeted €7.85 billion ($8.5 billion) for defense procurement in 2022, up from €6.76 billion in 2021, which in turn was up from €5.45 billion in 2020.

Meloni’s speech in parliament followed a series of appearances before a parliamentary defense committee by the heads of Italy’s armed forces, who said they were understaffed and underequipped.

Air force chief Gen. Luca Goretti said he wanted 41 extra F-35 fighters, taking Italy’s planned total from 90 jets back up to the 131 aircraft planners originally sought before the order was trimmed in 2012.

Navy chief Adm. Enrico Credendino told lawmakers his force lacked drones and submarine-spotting aircraft, complaining that “When we need one we ask the U.S. to use one of those it has stationed at Sigonella,” referring to the U.S. naval base on the Italian island of Sicily.

The admiral also said that Italian naval performance was hampered by a lack of personnel, claiming that while France provided each of its FREMM frigates with two rotating crews, “We cannot guarantee one full crew for any of our FREMMs,” he said.

Italy’s national armaments director Gen. Luciano Portolano said this month the army could be in line for tank and fighting vehicle gap fillers to make up for chronic shortfalls.

During his speech to the parliamentary committee, army chief Gen. Pietro Serino said the HIMARS rocket launcher, used to devastating effect by Ukraine against Russian invaders, was on his shopping list.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——意大利总理乔治娅·梅洛尼誓言要打破意大利在讨论国防开支方面一贯的沉默，增加国防预算，以满足将军们对更多武器和人员的需求。

梅洛尼本周在意大利参议院发表讲话时说：“我们从未掩饰过想要增加军费开支的事实，就像之前的政府一样，尽管他们都是偷偷摸摸地这样做，没有公开承认。”

她补充说：“我们将这样做，因为我们深信，尊重承诺对于维护国家主权和信誉至关重要。”

梅洛尼领导的右翼政府于去年上台，他似乎将矛头指向了五星运动党。五星运动党在 2018 年至 2022 年期间曾三次作为执政联盟的伙伴，但与此同时，该党也批评了军费开支，并在此期间提高了国防预算。

为了避免受到天主教会的批评，意大利历届政府历来对军费开支保持沉默。

上个月，梅洛尼的国防部长圭多·克罗塞托表示，意大利的目标是达到北约设定的国防开支占GDP 2%的目标，而北约报告称，意大利目前的国防开支总额为GDP的1.51%。

梅洛尼在议会表示：“自由是有代价的，如果你无法自卫，别人会替你做，但不会免费。他们会强加自己的利益，即使这些利益与你的利益相悖，我认为这对任何人来说都不是什么好事。”

意大利 2022 年国防采购预算为 78.5 亿欧元（85 亿美元），高于 2021 年的 67.6 亿欧元，而 2021 年的预算又高于 2020 年的 54.5 亿欧元。

在梅洛尼于议会发表讲话之前，意大利武装部队首脑们已多次出席议会国防委员会的听证会，他们表示军队人手不足、装备不足。

空军司令卢卡·戈雷蒂将军表示，他希望再添购 41 架 F-35 战斗机，使意大利的计划总数从 90 架战机恢复到 131 架，这是规划者在 2012 年削减订单之前最初寻求的数量。

海军司令恩里科·克雷登迪诺海军上将告诉议员们，他的部队缺乏无人机和潜艇侦察机，他抱怨说：“当我们需要这些飞机时，我们会请求美国使用其驻扎在锡戈内拉的飞机。”他指的是位于意大利西西里岛的美国海军基地。

这位海军上将还表示，意大利海军的作战能力受到人员短缺的制约，他声称，虽然法国为其每艘 FREMM 护卫舰配备了两组轮换船员，“但我们无法保证我们的任何一艘 FREMM 护卫舰都有完整的船员配备，”他说。

意大利国家军备总监卢西亚诺·波托拉诺将军本月表示，意大利陆军可能会获得坦克和战车等装备，以弥补长期存在的短缺。

陆军总司令皮耶特罗·塞里诺将军在向议会委员会发表讲话时表示，乌克兰曾用HIMARS火箭炮对付俄罗斯入侵者，并取得了毁灭性效果，而HIMARS火箭炮也在他的采购清单上。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。