Here is the order from Fincantieri and Leonardo at stake for Colombia
Colombia interested in purchasing training jets from Leonardo and corvettes and submarines from Fincantieri. Names, details, rumors and doubts
Order in smoke for Leonardo and Fincantieri in Colombia?
Since the beginning of the week, reports have circulated in the press that since September Bogota was negotiating with Rome the purchase of products from Fincantieri and Leonardo. "At a certain point in this negotiation, former Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema would have entered the role of intermediary" reported yesterday Huffington Post Italia relaunching rumors of the daily La Verità.
The news “in the last few hours has bounced publicly: first on a site , Sassate , which deals with Defense. And then in the newspaper La Verità , which yesterday also exclusively published the audio of the meeting between D'Alema and the emissaries of the Colombian government. The negotiations began about six months ago and accelerated between January and February, ”reports Repubblica today.
But it "jumped only at the last moment" remarked Repubblica . “The attempt by the Dalemian consortium began last September and ended a few weeks ago”, underlines La Stampa . While for the Fatto Quotidiano the negotiations between Colombia and Italian companies did not jump.
Specifically, La Verità talks about the "sale to the Colombian Ministry of Defense of 4 Fcx30 corvettes and two Trachinus class submarines produced by Fincantieri and some Leonardo M346 aircraft".
Here are all the details on the products of Fincantieri and Leonardo mentioned in the possible sale to Colombia.
THE PURCHASE DID NOT GO TO GOOD END
Nothing to do then for the sale between the two Italian defense companies and the Colombian government for war vehicles?
THE DISRUPTIONS OF LEONARDO AND FINCANTIERI
“After the scoop it was a race to more or less officially deny. For example, from Fincantieri they let us know that they have not given any brokerage assignment, nor signed any agreement with Colombia. The same goes for Leonardo ”, writes the newspaper directed by Maurizio Belpietro.
All the media cited identify as the subject of the possible order some Leonardo M346 aircraft, two submarines and four Fincantieri corvettes. Let's examine them in detail.
LEONARDO'S PARTICIPATION IN EXPODEFENSA IN BOGOTÀ
It was in Bogotà last November that Leonardo took part in Expodefensa, one of the main exhibitions dedicated to defense and security in Latin America.
In particular, the M-346 Fighter Attack (FA) was present in the Leonardo stand – as reported by the group's note – designed to carry out a wide range of missions at lower costs than front-line fighters.
Furthermore, the group headed by Alessandro Profumo made it known that in Bogotà there would also be the multi-mission aircraft C-27J Spartan already chosen in the area by the Air Forces of Mexico and Peru, the ATR-72MP (Maritime Patrol), SEonSE ( Smart Eyes on the SEas), the geospatial platform for maritime safety, built by e-Geos and the Aw139 helicopter.
THE FEATURES OF THE M-346
Returning to the M-346, as stated on Leonardo's website , it is the most advanced jet aircraft for training military pilots. Designed to offer "broad training capacity and long-term reliability". At the heart of a "complex and integrated training system, it is already in service with the air forces of Italy, the Republic of Singapore, Israel and Poland".
It is a twin-engine and two-seater aircraft, with fully digital flight controls and avionics, equipped with a Fly-By-Wire flight control system with quadruple redundancy, a man-machine interface with display for "head-to-head" data presentation high ”(HUD – Head-up Display) and multifunction (MFD), HOTAS (Hands on Throttle And Stick) controls and flight safety features such as PARS (Pilot Activated Attitude Recovery System).
"Thanks to its features, including the integration of Leonardo Grifo M346's multi-mode shooting control radar, the M-346FA is in fact able, while maintaining its advanced trainer characteristics, to be used also as an aircraft multi-role tactician, representing in fact an ideal option for the needs of many Armed Forces in the region ”underlined Leonardo on the occasion of Expodefensa.
THE (POTENTIAL) CUSTOMERS OF JET
As DefenseNews reported in January, “Leonardo has already sold 12 of the M346 to Singapore, 16 to Poland and 30 to Israel. The deal with Qatar brings the number of sales to 82. Greece will also purchase ten jets as part of an agreement with Israel to create its own flight school. Leonardo also sold six light fighter versions of the jet to an unknown customer believed to be Turkmenistan. Nigeria has also expressed interest, while Leonardo sees Columbia as a potential customer ”. Furthermore,Egypt is also ready to purchase 24 Leonardo M-346 aircraft as reported in December by Africa Intelligence.
FINCANTIERI'S CORVETTE FCX30 (PROPOSED TO GREECE)
Returning to the Colombian order, in addition to Leonardo's aircraft, there is talk of submarines and corvettes produced by the shipbuilding giant of Trieste headed by Giuseppe Bono.
In other words, "four Fincantieri Fcx30 corvettes and two Trachinus class submarines produced by Fincantieri" are mentioned.
As reported by the Greek newspaper Ptisiastima in February, in Fincantieri's current proposal for the future frigate of the Greek Navy there is the FCX 30 project, a version of the famous Doha class corvettes of Qatar.
WHAT ABOUT TRACHINUS SUBMARINES?
Finally, what are Fincantieri's “trachinus” submarines? They do not exist.
An expert analyst in the sector asking for anonymity tells Start Magazine : “There are no Trachinus (Tracina) submarines produced by Fincantieri. The submarines produced are U212A in partnership with Germany and the U212 NFS of which Italy has the intellectual property that allows it in the future to be able to sell them on the market. In the catalog, Fincantieri still has the S1000 project, the result of cooperation with the Russians for an export boat of which a specimen has never been sold (and at the moment, given the sanctions, I doubt that it could be resurrected for reasons of rights and royalties) ".
So in addition to the intriguing story of the sale, there is also a doubt about the military vehicles produced by Fincantieri concerned.
THE D'ALEMA VERSION
«I – D'Alema told Repubblica – have tried to lend a hand to Italian companies to take an important order. I had been contacted by Colombian personalities who said they were willing to support this hypothesis. Evidently someone was bothering him and he intervened to prevent it ». D'Alema has not had political or institutional duties since 2013. And he has been working for some time as a consultant with international companies. “Both the government and the Colombian embassy had been clearly warned of everything. I find it incredible – he concludes – how easy it is to recruit someone in Italy who is willing to damage our country "
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-la-commessa-di-fincantieri-e-leonardo-in-ballo-per-la-colombia/ on Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:49:09 +0000.