Italy to boost military spending by $862 million in 2023

The Italian government will increase military spending by 800 million euros [$862 million] this year, while currently, Rome spends about 1.38 per cent of GDP on this purpose.

According to the Milex Observatory, defence spending in the country will rise from 25.7 billion euros in 2022 to around 26.5 billion euros this year, TASS repots citing the newspaper La Stampa.

In addition, the newspaper la Repubblica said it was planning to increase the number of multifunctional frigates of the FREMM (European multi-purpose frigate) type from three to six, to purchase two more submarines and two anti-submarine aircraft.

Italian naval commanders have drawn attention to the manpower problem: these ships have around 29,500 personnel, "while at least 35,000 are needed". The same problem applies to the army, "which needs to increase from 89,000 to 110,000 soldiers".

This was reported by La Stampa newspaper on Wednesday, TASS reported.

In addition, the purchase of 100 German Leopard 2 series tanks and possibly "a similar number of Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicles" is under consideration. The Air Force noted the need to increase the number of F-35 fighters (from 90 to 131 aircraft) and Eurofighters.