Italy enlarges and enforces its fleet of special mission aircraft

Rome: Italy is pursuing its plan to expand its fleet of special mission aircraft (SMAs) assigned to the Air Force, further enforcing the current fleet of E-550A Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) aircraft from two to five, and is launching the procurement of the first two Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) platforms plus an option for an additional aircraft, in addition to the under contract procurement of two AISREW (Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare) aircraft

Based on the information released by the Secretariat General of Defence / National Armaments Directorate, namely the Directorate of Air Armaments and Airworthiness (ARMAEREO) and collected by EDR On-Line, in 2023 the Italian MoD opted for modifying a fifth G-550 into a CAEW platform in addition to the two already in service and two under procurement, and launched the modification procedures of the first two G-550 platforms in the AEA configuration, the same acquired by the USAF (Compass Call), with an option for a third aircraft. This alongside the two aircraft under contract being fitted with the AISREW suite. A plan which, according to the documentation released by ARMAEREO and the Parliament, has obtained funding for more than € 3 billion, making Italy’s SMA fleet one of the most capable among European NATO nations.

In February 2021, the Italian Parliament approved the P-MMMS (Piattaforma Aerea Multi-Missione, Multi-sensore) also known as JAMMS (Joint Airborne Multi-sensor Multi-mission System) multi-phase programme to procure and provide in-service support for eight airborne platforms equipped with multi-sensors and command and control systems in addition to the ground segment to accomplish a wide range of missions including AISREW, Airborne Early Warning/Battle Management & Communication (AEW/BMC), multi-domain strategic and operational Command and Control (C2), Electronic Warfare (EW), and AEA.

The P-MMMS programme special mission aircraft (SMA) fleet is based on the Gulfstream Aerospace G-550 business jet platform already in service with the Italian Air Force in the CAEW configuration provided by IAI/Elta Systems for AEW/BMC missions, which allows to maintain support, infrastructure and training commonalities. The € 1.2 billion Phase One of the multi-year programme covered the procurement of the first two G-550 platforms in a dedicated but undisclosed configuration with a mission suite, alongside six additional green airframes to be transformed in JAMMS platforms in follow-on programme steps. Phase One also includes initial funding for aircraft modification, integrated logistic support, in addition to common ground infrastructures. In December 2021, the Italian Parliament approved the Phase Two of the programme, regarding the aircraft modification, procurement and installation of the mission suite for four of the six additional green airframes, for a total € 925 million funding while allocating additional € 900 million Phase Three which will include the modification and equipping of the last two aircraft and other needs. According to available information, the P-MMMS programme is expected to be as follow.

In addition to the two in-service CAEW, delivered respectively in late 2016 and late 2017, the Italian MoD awarded IAI/Elta Systems a € 208.9 million contract in March 2022 for the procurement and installation of the modifications to the airframes including installation of radomes and aperture for systems and antennas, cables lying and modifications and other enhancements (also known as Group A) for two GFE (Government Funded Equipment) – provided G-550 aircraft and the follow-on procurement and installation of the mission suite (activities known as Group B), for delivery after industrial checks and government acceptance procedures. Although no official information was released, 174 million euro were allocated for the Group B, to be approved and awarded separately. The two new CAEW will maintain the same configuration, modifications being restricted to obsolescence cure and upgrading to systems. In June 2023, a new contract worth 3.8 million euro was signed with IAI/Elta Systems, with funding to be available from 2024, for the modifications on a fifth GFE-provided aircraft. Due to the limited contract value, it is expected this regards only initial activities to be followed by other contracts regarding Group A and B.

In service with the 14th Wing/71st Squadron of the Italian Air Force based at Pratica di Mare air base, near Rome, the two CAEW operational tempo and deployments have significantly increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the on-going retirement of the NATO AWACS fleet, in addition to national duties. Beside the deployment in Eastern Europe in support of NATO activities, in 2024 the CAEW fleet was heavily involved in overseas exercises; its assets recently took part in Red Flag Alaska 24-1 and operated in the Indo-Pacific in exercises Pitch Black and Sun Rising, respectively in Australia and Japan.

In addition to a fleet enlargement, ARMAEREO has also launched a procurement process to be completed in 2024 to acquire a batch of six Vortex transceiver systems from L3Harris to equip the CAEW aircraft. The system is already installed on in-service CAEWs for exchanging images. The latest Vortex S family of transceivers features expanded frequencies, additional processing resources for growth capability, crypto core modernization and other enhanced features which set it apart from earlier Vortex products.

Thanks to these programmes, the Italian Air Force will have five state-of-the-art CAEW, a significant increment in terms of surveillance capability for national, NATO and European Union requests.

As part of the same P-MMMS programme Phase Two, regarding the transformation of four of the six G-550 green airframes in special mission aircraft equipped with a mission suite, in addition to logistic support and logistic-infrastructural assets, according to ARMAEREO documentation released on 10 March 2023, the Italian Air Force General Staff gave the mandate to launch the procedures for the procurement of modification and later of the mission suite to convert two green G-550 airframes in an Electronic Attack (EA) configuration, in addition to the ground segment and the option for a third configured aircraft. To satisfy the general staff requirements, the Air Force selected the US Compass Call Cross Deck solution which programme has recently achieved the first delivery of the EA-37B platform to the US Air Force Air Combat Command, also based on the G-550 aircraft. The US programme sees L3Harris as the prime platform integrator responsible for installing all of the mission electronics, as well as aircraft modifications and apertures onto the EA-37B, while BAE Systems is the mission system prime contractor, acting as the system engineering, integration and testing lead.

Based on the programme and considering the fact that the mission system could be bought only through the US Government with a Foreign Military Sales case, two procedures have been indicated: a direct commercial sale for the procurement and installation of the modifications (Group A) on the two GFE-provided platforms with L3Harris, and a FMS procurement and installation of the mission suite for the Electronic Attack package together with ground-based segment and support. This in addition to the option for the third aircraft’s Group A and Group B.

In December 2023, ARMAEREO awarded a € 289.4 million contract to L3Harris for Group A activities. With the reference to the Compass Call programme, ARMAEREO hasn’t mentioned the mission suite provider neither the equipment suite and their capabilities compared to the US solution. Activities for the contract awarded last December extend from January 2024 to January 2030.

The procurement of an AEA system and the selection of an interoperable solution by the Italian MoD represents a quantum jump in terms of capabilities not only at national but also at NATO and European Union level.

The new SMA component under acquisition by the Italian MoD includes two AISREW platforms, also designed as JAMMS assets. They will support the Italian MoD’s Joint Intelligence Center (JIC) and will be part of the fleet being assigned to the 14th Wing/71st Squadron alongside the future AEW platforms. Currently, a single Beechcraft King Air KA-350ER Spydr by L3Harris is being used for the same missions since 2017, with flying crew of the Air Force and mission crew of Italian MoD and Air Force. In December 2020, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the potential sale to Italy of this capability to be provided by L3Harris for an estimated total value of $500 million.

This deal was signed in February 2021 and, based on US DoD documentation, the contracting agency is the 645th Aeronautical Systems Group, already responsible for a number of programmes for special mission aircraft and unmanned platforms to be delivered to US Armed Forces and foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia, Australia and now Italy. After the initial acquisition award, a series of contracts were assigned to L3Harris, among which we can identify the programme as the US DoD has indicated the JAMMS programme. The most interesting were assigned in November 2022 and March 2023, respectively devoted to the procurement of the JAMMS integration lab, ground, and training system and the procurement of engineering procurement and fabrication and subsequent modification effort for the first JAMMS. In May 2023, L3Harris acknowledged the first two JAMMS aircraft were undergoing modifications at Gulfstream’s Savannah (Georgia) and would have begun the transfer to L3Harris’ Greenville (Texas) aircraft modification centre later in 2023.

In March 2022, the Italian Air Force announced the arrival in Italy of the first G-550 aircraft to be transformed in P-MMM platform but initially used as transport and support aircraft. A follow-on G-550 arrived in November 2022 but neither platform have been already transformed in an SMA.

According to information provided by DSCA and images released by L3Harris, the Italian AISREW platforms will have a similar external aircraft configuration and expected mission suite of the MC-55A Peregrine platform for the Australian Department of Defense (DoD). The new configuration baseline offered by L3Harris features a long canoe fairing underneath the fuselage which is expected to house synthetic aperture radar/ground moving targets indicator (SAR/GMTI), ISR sensors and Line-of-Sight data link, mission antennas on top and underneath the fuselage, radar antennas or other equipment in the nose and tail cone, retractable EO/IR turret under the tail together with self-protection equipment and Beyond-line-of-Sight data link on top of the tail fin.

According to US DSCA documentation, the Italy’s aircraft mission suite is centred on L-3 Rio COMINT suite, Leonardo Osprey 50 AESA radar and L3Harris Wescam MX-20HD EO/IR, additional unspecified AISREW ISR equipment and Link 16 MIDS JTRS, alongside other communications, identification and a self-protection suites.