On Friday 28 October, a Swiss delegation visited the trivalent regional pole F-35 – FACO/MRO&U in Cameri (NO), led by Defence Minister Viola Amherd and accompanied by Armaments Director Martin Sonderegger.
The delegation was welcomed by the General of the Army Corps Luciano Portolano, Secretary General of Defense and National Director of Armaments, who, in the first phase of the meeting, after bringing the greetings of the Minister of Defense, Honorable Guido Crosetto, illustrated to Minister Amherd the organizational features of the international program of 5 ^ generation F-35 and the organization of the trivalent pole of Cameri, one of the two realities in the world outside the United States (the other is in Japan) and unique in Europe.
In the initial briefing it was illustrated how at the Piedmontese plants – assembly center and final verification of the F-35 program – about a third of the wing assemblies are already produced for the entire need of the International Program, aircraft are assembled for Italy and the Netherlands and the most significant inspections are carried out for European countries, starting with Norway, whose first aircraft began planned checks and maintenance at the beginning of July. Subsequently, the Swiss delegation visited the production and maintenance lines, where it was able to touch the technological and qualitative level of the management of the latest generation systems in Italy. The Program already counts 16 nations in various ways, not counting the countries that are asking to be able to equip themselves with the aircraft, and therefore has an active role in European and transatlantic cooperation.
During the visit, the importance of the trivalent pole of Cameri for the Euro-Mediterranean area clearly appeared. For Italy, the plant in the province of Novara represents a happy confirmation of the strategic and far-sighted choice to participate from the beginning in the Joint Strike Fighter program, also for the significant repercussions from a technological, industrial and employment point of view.
Il Gen. Portolano then underlined to Minister Amherd the specific weight of Italy in the international program – also from the point of view of operational experience. Italy, in fact, has participated since the dawn of the F-35 program and the Italian Air Force and the Navy, with the United States and Japan are currently the only ones to use aircraft both in version A (CTOL – conventional take-off and landing) and B (STOVL – short take-off and vertical landing).
At the end of the visit, Minister Amherd said she was absolutely impressed by the excellent organization and professionalism employed in the management of modern industrial processes. He also added that cooperation with Italy, starting with the F-35 program, will certainly improve interoperability with other European Armed Forces.
Switzerland’s decision to buy the F-35 came in June 2021, after the announcement of the Swiss Federal Council on the choice of aircraft in the competition to renew the Confederation’s fighters. Therefore, the transalpine country, last September signed an agreement for the purchase of the F-35, for a total value of 6.25 billion dollars. The contract provides for the purchase of 36 examples of the conventional take-off and landing aircraft, intended to replace the national fleets of F/A-18A/B Hornet and the remaining F-5E Tiger II between 2027 and 2030.
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