ROME \u2014\u00a0The Italian Air Force and Navy are due to take delivery of the first of\u00a0four ATR 72 maritime patrol aircraft from Leonardo-Finmeccanica to\u00a0replace ageing Atlantique aircraft, which they fly out of Sicily’s\u00a0Sigonella air base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delivery, which is reportedly due in the next few weeks, marks the culmination of an eight-year wait since Italy opted to spend \u20ac360 million (US $397 million)\u00a0on\u00a0the aircraft in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As naval vessels prowl the seas off the Libyan coast, looking for\u00a0endangered migrants, and conflict zones from Syria to Libya put the\u00a0Mediterranean back on the front pages, Italy risks\u00a0losing its\u00a0maritime patrol reach in the region. Its aging fleet of Atlantiques are to go out of\u00a0service as\u00a0Italy struggles to find spare parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There is no way we can afford to have a lack of assets in the area\u00a0right now,” an Italian defense source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its recent defense white paper, Italy set out its ambition to have a\u00a0military edge over its neighbors in the Mediterranean, an area that\u00a0Rome considers its backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That said, the ATR 72s will not offer anti-submarine capabilities\u00a0like the Atlantiques, leaving a capability gap that might only be\u00a0filled if anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities are added to the aircraft at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That ambition is reflected in the decision to make the aircraft fit four pylons for torpedoes if required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the middle of the last decade Italy seriously considered becoming an\u00a0early customer of the Boeing P8, which would have kept an Italian fixed\u00a0wing ASW capability, but budget shortfalls meant settling for the ATR 72.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Italy gets is an aircraft equipped with Leonardo’s Seaspray 7300\u00a0radar, Link 16, electronic intelligence capabilities, four operator\u00a0stations, a self-protection suite from Elettronica, the Star Safire HD\u00a0electro-optical turret and a mission system based on Leonardo’s ATOS\u00a0system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the pending delivery, Italy will receive a second and a third\u00a0aircraft within two months and the fourth aircraft within a year. The\u00a0last aircraft will offer satellite links \u2014 including the ability to link\u00a0to Italy’s Sicral military communications satellite \u2014 as well as use of\u00a0Vortex, a line-of-sight video data link system. Those two capabilities\u00a0will be retrofitted to the other three aircraft, an industry source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Delivery is late, with early predictions of deliveries in 2012 made back\u00a0in 2008 at the time of the contract signing. The industrial source said changing customer requirements had pushed deliveries back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The aircraft will offer 10-hour endurance compared to the six hours\u00a0offered by the smaller ATR 42, which is in service as a maritime patrol\u00a0aircraft with the Italian tax police and coast guard, as well as with\u00a0the Nigerian Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with the Atlantiques, the Italian\u00a0Navy will handle tasking orders for\u00a0missions, while the crew\u00a0will be a mixture of\u00a0Air Force and Navy personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leonardo has in the meantime sold six ATR 72s in ASW format to Turkey,\u00a0complete with a Thales mission system and a TAI weapons system. The\u00a0first of the aircraft was due to undergo certification at Leonardo’s\u00a0facility in Turin following the Farnborough air show before final\u00a0delivery to the Turkish navy, the industrial source said.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italy risks losing its maritime patrol reach in the Mediterranean. Its aging fleet of Atlantiques are to go out of service as Italy struggles to find spare parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":59208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[46,11,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3345],"class_list":["post-27064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-global","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OLL4WMSBDVAOLPEX6X6SDGFBFQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2016\/07\/22\/italy-keeps-eye-on-mediterranean-with-new-atr-72\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n