The art of war
At Ghedi Airbase
30 F-35 fighters with 60 nuclear bombs
Manlio Dinucci
The military
airport of Ghedi (Brescia) is preparing to become one of the main operational
bases of the F-35 fighters.
The
Ministry of Defence has published in the Official Gazette a tender notice for
design (€2.5 million) and construction (€60.7 million) of new infrastructure
for F-35: the three-storey command building with operating rooms and flight
simulators; the hangar for fighter maintenance, 3460 square meters with a 5-ton
overhead crane, plus other 2800 sq m structures; a 1100 sq m warehouse with
an adjacent two storey office’s building and the technology center with
electric cabin and fireboxes; 15 shelters, 440 sq m each in which will
be located the fighters ready for takeoff.
As each shelter
can accommodate two fighters, the total capacity will be 30 F-35s.
All buildings will be concentrated in a single fenced area, under video surveillance, separated from the rest of the airport:
a base inside the base, access to which will be prohibited to the airport's
military personnel except for the one of F-35 fighters.
The reason is
clear: alongside the F-35A with conventional takeoff and landing - of which
Italy buys 60 units together with 30 F-35Bs with short takeoff and vertical
landing - the new US nuclear bombs B61-12 will be located in Ghedi.
Like the current
B-61, they can also be dropped by the Tornado PA-200 of the 6th Wing, but to
drive them precisely on the target and exploit their anti-bunker capabilities,
you need the F-35A fighter aircraft equipped with special digital systems.
Since each
fighter can carry 2 nuclear bombs internally, 60 B61-12 can be located in Ghedi,
the triple of the current B-61s.
Like the
previous ones, the B61-12 will be controlled by a special US unit (704th
Munitions Support Squadron of the U. S. Air Force) that, according the official text, will be «accountable for the receipt,
storage and maintenance of U.S. war reserve weapons committed to NATO’s 6th
Stormo Italian Wing».
The same unit of
the U. S. Air Force has the task of «directly supporting the strike mission» of
the 6th Wing. Italian pilots are already trained in the airbases of Eglin in
Florida and Luke in Arizona, to use the F-35s also for nuclear attack missions.
Fighters of the
same type, armed or otherwise weaponable with the B61-12, will be deployed in
the base of Amendola (Foggia), where a year ago the first F-35 arrived, and in
other bases. In addition to these, there will be the F-35s of the U. S. Air
Force deployed in Aviano with the B61-12 nuclear bombs.
Against this
background, to request, as the 5 Stars Movement has done in the Chamber, that
Italy declare its «unwillingness to acquire the necessary components to make
the F-35 suitable for the transport of nuclear weapons», is equivalent to requiring
that the army be equipped with tanks without cannons.
The new F-35
fighter and the new B61-12 nuclear bomb constitute an integrated weapon's system.
Participating in
the F-35 programme strengthens Italy's anchoring to the United States. The
Italian war industry, headed by Leonardo who manages the F-35 assembly plant in
Cameri (Novara), is even more integrated into the gigantic US military-industrial
complex headed by Lockheed Martin, the world's largest war industry (with 16000
suppliers in the USA and 1500 in 65 other countries), the manufacturer of the
F-35.
The deployment
of F-35 armed with B61-12 nuclear bombs on our territory subordinates Italy
even more to the Pentagon chain of command, depriving Parliament of any real
decision-making power.
Il Manifesto,
November 27, 2017
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