The ANNOTICO Report

Gen Giulio Fraticelli, the Army Chief of Staff, finds it absurd to buy a
large number of ships and planes. "We spend too much on these very
expensive means of transport. At most they will be used for displays and
one or two cruises."  "Who are we supposed to fight a war against?".

Corriere della Sera in Italian
Translated by Media Matters
6 Jun 2005

Rome: "Who are we supposed to fight a war against?". Gen Giulio Fraticelli,
the Army Chief of Staff, finds it absurd to buy a large number of ships and
planes. "We spend too much on these very expensive means of transport. At
most they will be used for displays and one or two cruises."

[Nese] Why are you concerned over what the Air Force and the Navy are doing?

[Fraticelli] Because we in the Army supply 80 per cent of the men for peace
missions. And now we are being asked to cut spending and to cut personnel.
The Defence budget is meagre. We only have 1 per cent of the gross domestic
product. Because this is not enough, the first remedy which comes to mind
is: let's squeeze the number of personnel, let's make a smaller model, and
with the money we save we'll equip ourselves with a lot of technology.
Nothing is more false and more wrong for the Army.

[Nese] What, in numerical terms, is your ideal set-up?

[Fraticelli] In 1991 our numbers were 260,000. The new model of a
professional Army has brought us down to 112,000. This is where we have to
stop. We number 11 brigades, and while the other countries can count on
reserve units, we don't even have those. Now we hear it being said that
more men need to be sacrificed so as to divert funds towards very expensive
weapons systems. We are voicing great concern. We are totally opposed. We
want to say so very loudly, and urge political leaders to stop and think.
Let them say whether all this technological materiel is needed for the
tasks entrusted to us.

[Nese] I would remind you that the Defence Chief of Staff, [Adm Giampaolo]
Di Paola, has talked in terms of quality rather than quantity.

[Fraticelli] I don't want to create any conflict. I am saying that men are
our capital. Thanks to men, the soldiers, we are seeing our missions
crowned with success. Our troops are doing a good job, as the other armies
have acknowledged, the local people hold them in esteem, and the people of
Italy are proud of them. A recent poll says that support for the Army has
risen to 73 per cent. But, in order to allow others to buy ships and
planes, I cannot start the construction of lodgings intended for
volunteers, and I have to postpone the purchase of new secure transport
vehicles for fusilier squads.

These are all vehicles which the Army buys in Italy, the money stays here,
whilst ships and planes involve spending abroad.

[Nese] But you can't get rid of the Navy and the Air Force.

[Fraticelli] Far be it from me. All I am saying is that when times are hard
one has to realistically decide what we can afford. The authorities who
keep watch over the State balance-sheet ought to be aware of how money is
spent, and voice their point of view with regard to priorities. Do we need
more than 100 planes? Do we need an aircraft carrier and 10 frigates? These
numbers were suitable for dealing with the Warsaw Pact, but not for today's
scenario. We cannot think of going around the world fighting wars against
who knows what country. What we are being asked to do by NATO and the
United Nations is to bring peace. We are going to have more and more
missions to carry out. And men are needed. We are now sending 200 men into
Sudan. We are starting to show our faces in Africa, where peace operations
will increase over the next few years.

[Nese] And almost 2,000 men are preparing to leave for Afghanistan.

[Fraticelli] They will stay there for 9 months. The command of the NATO
mission called the ISAF falls to Italy. We will need to concentrate more
and more on these kinds of operations, which require motivated and
well-equipped troops. Individual technology is needed. But all the rest,
the model which envisions greater offensive capabilities, what scenario
ought it to be suited to? Who do we need to go and wage war against? What
threat do we need to deal with? What, then, is the political justification?
And where do we get the economic resources from? You cannot make great
technological changes with 1 per cent of GDP.

[Nese] So what is your suggestion?

[Fraticelli] We will inevitably find ourselves establishing priorities. A
frigate costs 300 million euros. With that figure I can maintain a brigade
for three years. What do we need more, the men or the ship? If we choose
very expensive materiel and weapons systems, we will have to ask ourselves
when we will use them. We will keep the ships in the arsenals and the
planes in the hangars. How many men will the Army have to do without for
the pride in having a fine air fleet and naval fleet?

[Nese] What is the Army's budget?

[Fraticelli] In 2005 we get around 3,900 million euros. Ideally, that would
be divided up as follows: 40 per cent of spending on personnel, 30 per cent
for activities currently in hand, and 30 per cent for future investments.
But, under the professional model, spending on personnel has increased, and
we are on around 58 per cent. Investments are being penalized.

[Nese] Would you like greater resources to the detriment of the other two
branches of the armed forces?

[Fraticelli] My line of thinking is as follows. If we set our sights on
building armed forces which are able to make war, and impose peace, then a
lot of means of transport are needed. But we don't have the capacity. We
cannot be like the Americans. Even assuming that we really do want to make
a technological shift up in gear, and bring ourselves up to the level of
the United States, how much personnel ought we to do without? We are more
man-based, the others are more technology-based. We need to find a meeting
point. If we occupy the Defence budget wholly for the purchase of weapons
systems, and tie ourselves down for the next few years, where will we end
up? These obligations become a debt, but seeing as how we don't have a
secure budget, taking on debt in the face of uncertainty over payment, we
risk tomorrow finding ourselves without funds, and there won't be any more
space for anything, not even for that minimum technological updating which
we really do need.

Source: Corriere della Sera web site, Milan, in Italian 6 Jun 05

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