Marine based at Corry Station in Pensacola, FL dies

[mr.bean]

dies in accident.
http://www.pnj.com/article/20081104/NEWS01/81104026
...and...
Budget Cuts Force Italy From C-17 Pool
By tom kington


ROME - Amid the crowd of nations signing up to NATO's new C-17 pool in October, Italy's absence was notable, given that it backed the plan at its inception.

Budget cuts prevented Italy from taking part in the deal to purchase three Boeing C-17 transport planes to be based in Hungary, which will be shared for strategic airlift by 10 NATO and two non-NATO countries.

As Italian military planners figure out how to keep soldiers trained and fuel tanks full following heavy cuts to maintenance and operations spending, procurement plans are also feeling the pinch. This autumn, generals have decided not to buy two test Joint Strike Fighters and have now pulled Italy out of the C-17 pool.

"Italy was favorable, but the funds are not there and it has withdrawn from the starting lineup," said Giovanni Gasparini, a senior fellow at the IAI think tank in Rome.

"It is not a good sign. We are effectively sending a signal that we will not always support commitments to NATO," he added.

In a draft budget for 2009 sent to Parliament for approval last month, based on funds provided by the government, military planners envision slashing investment, which includes procurement, by 20.6 percent from 3.64 billion to 2.89 billion euros ($3.8 billion).

After joining the initial group planning the lease, Italy said it might require 300 flight hours from the pool. Italy had joined the early planning for the C-17 scheme after mulling its own lease of two C-17s in 2005 to handle growing peacekeeping responsibilities overseas. That plan, prompted in part by discontent over the ad hoc leasing of Antonov freighters, did not come to fruition.

The recent decision to pull out of the NATO pool could become a political problem, Gasparini said

"Pulling out of a NATO program becomes a question of alliance politics, particularly when you are talking about the second biggest buy in NATO history after AWACs," he said. Italy already raised eyebrows in Europe by opting not to join the consortium building the A400M airlifter.

Launching the pool last month, NATO said it remained open for other members to join in the future, and a political source here said Italy could yet sign up.

"Let's wait until the end of December to see what the final spending plan [will be] for 2009," he said.

One defense analyst argued that Italy is actually better off out of the pool in the long term.

"There are four 767 tankers arriving in service with the Italian Air Force, each of which will offer the airlift capacity of three C-130s," he said. "Italy also has 22 C-130s and new C-27J tactical transports to offer in exchange for flight hours on other aircraft."

Gasparini was not convinced.

"Trading hours is not always enough, and I believe Italy will end up needing to use those smaller aircraft for strategic airlift, which takes hours away from a fleet which is already under pressure due to operational needs," he said.

Italy's decision not to enter the pool is partly in keeping with its current policy on airlift. The military used chartered commercial passenger jets and freighter aircraft, leased shipping and its own C-130Js to move 35,000 personnel and 13,000 tons of material to and from Afghanistan last year, without relying heavily on existing pooled resources in Europe.

These resources included the interim group sharing Russian freighter flights from Leipzig, Germany, and the Movement Coordination Centre Europe, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which was created by EU and NATO members.

defencenews.com