Italy puts extra €1.8 billion toward Tempest/FCAS funding
Italy has a number of industrial partners tied to the Tempest/FCAS programme including Leonardo and Elettronica (Photo: BAE Systems)
Italy is to invest heavily in the multinational Tempest/FCAS programme.
Italy has approved of €1.8 billion ($1.82 billion) in additional funding for the Tempest/Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme.
The new spending represents a sizeable jump from Italy’s initial €2 billion ($2.02 billion) contribution over 15 years to the sixth-generation fighter effort.
That funding, announced by Rome in August 2021, arrived before the UK committed to fly a Tempest demonstrator inside the next five years.
According to a translated version of the latest defence budget report (2022-2024) from the Italian MoD: ‘On the subject of emerging technologies, we have contemplated a significant refinancing to the research and development programme for the sixth
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