Rom: Italy is spending €31.3 billion ($36.2 billion) on defence this year, the country’s defence ministry has announced in a long awaited budget document. The figure is up 7.2% on last year’s spending of just over €29 billion, but is set to remain stable in 2026 and 2027, the ministry stated.
taly has come under pressure this year to increase spending, as NATO calls on members to hit 5% of GDP by 2035, up from a previous target of 2%. Italy’s spending last year amounted to only 1.54% of GDP, but Rome promised it would reach two percent in 2025. The new document announces that on top of the regular defence budget, a host of outlays that have been re-categorised as defence spending have been added into the ledger, including pension payments and parts of the paramilitary Carabinieri police.
In the process, the €31.3 billion defence budget rises to €45.3 billion in spending, enough to qualify for the 2% target, the ministry said. The document gives a breakdown on spending this year for each programme, but in a departure from tradition does not state the total amount of procurement funding which has been budgeted this year. It does say that defence ministry procurement funding will total €35 billion over the next 15 years.
In the list of programmes to be financed this year, there is €100 million to upgrade Italy’s aging Ariete tanks, €50 million to continue the development of new Panther tanks with Germany’s Rheinmetall and €130 million for new Lynx fighting vehicles. As the planned Italian F-35 fleet grows from 90 to 115, there are €735 million for the programme and €625 million for work on the GCAP fighter with the UK and Japan.
Italian officials have said they are considering buying the Japanese Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft to tackle hostile submarines in the Mediterranean. Without specifying what platform will be purchased, the document says six will be bought, with an initial €30 million to kick start the programme in 2027.
