In a letter this week to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Italian Defense Minister Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola urged an effort to continue funding the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).
The MEADS program is in financial jeopardy.
Di Paola writes: “Three committees have zeroed the expected U.S. financial contribution for the year 2013 and this virtually means the termination of the Program even before the conclusion of the internationally agreed Design and Development (D&D) phase.”
The U.S. defense budget requested $400 million in fiscal year 2013 for MEADS.
The situation is of “great concern” to Italy and Germany, the two nations partnering on the advanced air defense system.
Only the Senate Appropriations Committee is left to consider the program, thus assuming “the utmost importance as it can reverse the course of actions,” said the letter, which Panetta received earlier this week.
For Italy, the D&D results are vital as they will be the basis for the future air defense system architecture and fundamental to allow the Italian contribution to NATO’s integrated air and missile defense effort, a key element of the work effort agreed uoon in Chicago a month ago by the heads of government.
“I rely on your intervention with the SAC Chairman in order to stimulate a positive discussion which can be in favor of the U.S. funding release for the year 2013,” Di Paola wrote.
Di Paola was Chairman of the NATO Military Committee before becoming Italian Defense Minister.
Work on the MEADS program, an agreed effort among the United States, Germany and Italy, is led by prime contractor MEADS International, a multinational joint venture. Major partners are MBDA in Italy, LFK in Germany and Lockheed Martin [LMT] in the United States.
The three nations signed an agreement last year to continue to the completion of MEADS proof of concept (Defense Daily, Nov. 4, 2011). The United States’ top Defense Department acquisition official also approved completing integration and test, and completing three flight tests through the end of 2013.
National Armament directors of Italy and Germany have written in recent months in support of the program. Di Paola’s letter followed those letters, saying: “we hope and expect that the United States would live up to its MoU commitment.”
Di Paola highlighted “the prominent significance of a transatlantic cooperation and collaboration which is unique in its own merits and still assumes an incredibly relevant political aspect.”
The letter concludes saying the three nations have made substantial funding investments and political effort to move the program forward and it needs the fiscal year 2013 investment to conclude D&D.
Completing the D&D program would allow the three nations to harvest some of the integrated and tested elements of the system, according to their need.
Separately, in Paris at Eurosatory, MEADS International told the media the first MEADS power and communications unit recently completed acceptance testing in Germany and will power the first Multifunction Fire Control Radar (MFCR) during integration tests at Pratica di Mare, Italy.
MEADS International Technical Director Marco Riccetti said, “The MEADS power and communications unit, as with other MEADS elements, is designed for mobility and transportability, including C-130 transport. It has a highly reliable design that meets the power needs of both MEADS radars, and is ready to operate across a broad range of environmental conditions on a rapid emplacement timeline.”
A second MFCR power and communications unit is in qualification testing at the German Armed Forces Technical Center for Automotive and Armored Vehicles. The MEADS power and communications unit was designed and manufactured under a subcontract from MBDA by Lechmotoren in Altenstadt, Germany.
An initial MEADS flight test was successfully completed at White Sands Missile Range in November 2011 (Defense Daily, Dec. 5, 2011). Integration work continues in support of two upcoming intercept tests planned at White Sands.
The MEADS program management agency, the NATO MEADS Management Agency, (NAMEADSMA), is located in Huntsville, Ala.