via gazzettadelsud.it
Rome, May 5 - Italy has a strategic role in regional defence and for that reason, it must go ahead with its plan to purchase F-35 fighter jets, John R. Phillips, the United States ambassador to Rome, said Monday. "The F-35 are the aircraft of the future, the fighters which will replace the existing (aircraft) over the next 15 to 20 years," Phillips said during an interview on public broadcaster Rai. The Italian government froze spending on the F-35 program in March, and said that as a cost-cutting measure, it is considering reducing the number of fighter jets it will purchase. The aircraft, at an estimated $200 million US per unit, are among the costliest jet fighters in the world and are developed jointly by a number of allied nations including Italy. That would mark the second time Italy has reduced the number of its Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, a budget item which is currently worth about 11.8 billion euros over 45 years beginning in 2015. Italy in 2012 announced plans to cut its order to 90 from the 131 jets originally agreed to in 2002, saving the country some five billion euros. Phillips said that it would be better to lengthen the contract period rather than outright cut the purchase plan. "We have agreements with the Italian Army, we may have to slow down the acquisition, but I do not think there is interest in reducing it," said Phillips. "Italy plays a large role in the defense, it has a strategic location and needs the ability to deal with situations," he said, citing nearby Libya and Lebanon as examples. Because of those obligations, Italy cannot reduce the number of new jets, said Phillips.A US Ambassador telling an allied nation what THEY MUST do...Begging that country to move orders to the right, instead of cancelling them....
For any other issue, on any other subject, this type of announcement would cause outrage in the country where our representative made such a statement.
Italy will cancel more F-35's and this statement by our Ambassador will hurt, not help the sales pitch.
Concurrency has failed. The death spiral is here.
Sidenote: Has anyone crunched the numbers to determine how the F-35B will function on the Cavour Aircraft Carrier? Moving from an A-4 sized airplane to an F-15C sized airplane has to affect all aspects of its operation. From moving aircraft on deck to space in the hanger....I imagine that the modifications to that ship will be extensive.
To be honest, now I'm worried. Our ambassadors are known to be corrupt. Jon Stewart called them out on it blatantly: http://blog.heritage.org/2014/02/13/watch-jon-stewart-calls-obama-corrupt-ambassador-choices/
ReplyDeleteIf our ambassadors are in bed with defense contractors then I have no idea how deep their hands are in our system. I'm worried some sort of foul play will force the Italians to maintain their F-35 buy. I guess we'll find out shortly.
i agree about the corruption but i see this as the Italian govt rallying the people. if this had been kept quiet then that would be one thing, but to see the US ambassador basically tell the Italians what they must do? the response will be interesting but i don't think it will be supporting the US position.
DeleteYou're talking about ambassadors ?.....havnt you heard about your Vice-Presidents and Secretary of State's being the worlds greatest salesmen for LM, GD, Northrup and the lot ?
DeleteThe US ambassador in Sweden apparently told eight political parties in the government's defense preparation, that Sweden should join NATO to be sure of being protected.
ReplyDeleteNot the same but it's interesting how hard the ambassadors are working behind the scenes.
And always with the "care" for other nations...
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.svd.se%2Fnyheter%2Finrikes%2Fsverige-bor-ga-med-i-nato_3503272.svd&edit-text=
as usual the discussion was dragged in a silly direction and everyone ignored the real story.
Deletethat a US ambassador was applying INTENSE pressure to the Italians to stay with the program. that alone is telling but it also indicates to me a type of nervousness that the programs supporters deny.
why tell the Italians anything if this is such a good product? why strong arm them if you've already had them as a second level partner?
its because the promised price drop hasn't and will not happen.
but this thing with Sweden and NATO is a whole different kettle of fish. why should they join NATO? even Hitler's Germany respected Swedish neutrality. they have too much money from the elites of the world hid in there. i don't know the motivation but something is amiss. thanks for the tip. i need to look into that.
I'm fully aware of the real story. I know how the US put what ever pressure they can on what ever country they know when they see the need for it.
DeleteWhen Czech Republic begun talking about going with Gripen, US sent Rumsfeld the day after. If I recall correctly, he threatened them with economic sanctions unless they did choose US made aircraft instead.
US have been and still are a super power in many ways but I'm not sure how far they can keep on going by putting the squeeze on everyone. Especially when the countries in question simply dont have the money to fulfill the orders.
So a US ambassador should not undertake activities that help the industry within the USA?
ReplyDelete