Italy wins maintenance work for F-35s in Europe

Italy’s Cameri air base will become the European hub for maintenance of F-35 fighter jets stationed in Europe, the U.S. Defense Department said Thursday.

“Italy invested nearly $1 billion in building” the Cameri facility in northern Italy, “and it’s very hard, on a cost basis and value basis, to match that,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the Pentagon’s F-35 program manager, told reporters in Washington, D.C. “Italy is a stable and very important partner.”

Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti had pushed for a bigger role in maintenance and had discussed the deal with U.S. officials in Washington this year. The deal confirms Italy’s participation in the F-35 program, even as the country considers reducing its jet order after more than a decade of economic stagnation.

The F-35 is being built by Lockheed Martin in west Fort Worth. Italy is among 11 foreign nations that have ordered the next-generation stealth fighter.

“This agreement shows Italy remains deeply involved in the F-35 program,” said Michele Nones, director of the security and defense program at the Institute for International Affairs think tank in Rome. “It’s important for Italy if you consider there will be at least 500 jets in Europe in the next 15 years that will need maintenance and upgrades for another 40 years or so.”

The decision is “an acknowledgment of Italy’s technological capability and of the fact that, rather than just being buyers, we can be industrial partners,” Pinotti told reporters in Rome.

The U.S. government said Italy will provide initial airframe maintenance capability by 2018.

The United Kingdom was assigned to supplement that if needed, Bogdan said. Turkey was assigned engine maintenance for Europe, also by 2018, followed by Norway and the Netherlands for additional capability two or three years later.

Bogdan said each nation participating in F-35 maintenance will be guaranteed a minimum amount of work. Italy announced in February 2012 that its initial planned purchase of 131 jets would be reduced to 90. Bogdan said he’s not aware of any decision to make further cuts.

Mauro Moretti, CEO of the Italian defense company Finmeccanica, which will be involved in the construction, said the deal will have a “relevant” economic impact. He said he hopes the company will also help make electronic and avionic components.

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Italy wins maintenance work for F-35s in Europe."