Italy finally funds naval missile projects
The FC/ASW missile will be delivered in two variants. An anti-ship missile and a land-attack variant that would allow naval forces to have one missile to complete two roles. (Photo: MBDA)
The Italian MoD’s multi-year programme documents (DPP) detailing its current and planned acquisition projects has provided new details of funding for its 2023–25 naval missile programmes.
The Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that funding has been provided for the Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) project and for the Marte-Extended Range (Marte-ER) anti-ship missile.
Italy joined the Franco–British FC/ASW project in June 2023 when a Letter of Intent (LOI) was signed at the Paris Air Show. Although the project started 2017 it has progressed through conceptual and evaluation phases under contract to European missile manufacturer MBDA.
Under the LOI, dialogue will be ongoing to see how the three countries progress the FC/ASW programme. With some initial funding, Italy will begin to participate in the development phase
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