Within the next two years we will have to replace the ATR aircraft today in service with platforms equipped with major performance. The choice could see the challenge between the American Boeing P-8 and the Japanese Kawasaki P-1
That Italy takes a new aircraft for the anti -Sommergible maritime patrol is known for some time. For about ten years the idea of creating a new project for about ten years, which would probably have been the Piaggio ppa, the older brother of the P180 ahead, now defense sources have made it known that they were evaluating the acquisition of the Japanese aircraft Kawasaki P-1. “It is one of the possible options,” said the Italian Air Force General Luca Goretti on Friday 28 March, on the sidelines of the celebrations for the 102nd birthday of the Blue Force, underlining: “We have an excellent relationship with Japan”, moreover it is with Tokyo and London that we are building the new hunting for sixth generation GCAP. It would therefore be a quadimotor of which since 2013 since 2013 there are currently about 35 specimens with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, instead of the ATR 72 (built in part by Leonardo) and currently managed by crews of the Air Force and the Navy. These, albeit well equipped in terms of radar systems, are not suitable for the anti -Sommergible struggle, threat that in the last five years it has also grown in the Mediterranean especially for the activities carried out of Turkey and Russia. The alternative would be Boeing P-8 built in the USA, which to their advantage undoubtedly have the fact that they have already been exported to various nations, while for the Kawasaki airplane it would be the first time and it could not be a ready job, as the aircraft should be changed by equipping them with western systems born with a figure that could reach half of billions of euros.
With the USA we could also talk about industrial impact, as we do with the B-787 Dreamliner by building some parts, but it is still a speech to be defined and the interlocutor would first be Donald Trump. Or, there would be the Airbus C295 in the MSA version, a solution which, however, for Italy would have very little industrial impact. The decision will be taken by 2027, when the ATRs arrive at an operational expiry.
On a technical level, the Kawasaki are the heirs of an anti-Sommergible tradition that the Japanese have developed for over half a century and which with the P1 shows the experience with the P-3 Orion of the eighties. With the evolution of the project, the P-1 is longer than the predecessor (38 meters), has a wingspan of 35.3 meters and a wider fuselage, reaching a maximum weight to take off close to twenty tons. In the West, the first specimens appeared to international exercises such as the Royal International Air Tatoo in the United Kingdom, then to the aeronautical salons of Paris (2017) and Berlin (2018). On these occasions the P-1 was proposed to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Germany, Thailand and Vietnam, but without success.
One of its characteristics is to be completely produced in Japan, including the F7 engines designed and built by the IHI Corporation precisely for this model of airplane and equipped with a special treatment of the surfaces exposed to prevent the typical corrosion of the marine environment. The presence of four engines, a little in contrast with similar projects, however allows you to have greater redundancy and in any case the airplane can limit consumption by flying with only two active engines. Instead, what cannot do is the refueling in flight, unlike the American P-8. The radar installed on the existing specimens is built by Toshiba, while the computer for the processing of sound data (coming from the Boe Sonar), is produced by NEC, and the anti -missile defense system and electronic war is provided by Mitsubishi Electric.
Then there are some systems conceived in the USA, such as the Honeywell auxiliary power unit
The flight checks are of the Fly-by-Wire type and connected by means of an optical fiber to prevent interference for sensors and on-board electronic systems. The infrared discovery system (Flir) is Lo Haq-2 built by Fujitsu. All this implies that in the event of an acquisition by the Italian side, the configuration will be reviewed by creating the most suitable one in the Mediterranean, learning to use and repair these systems or replacing them with those produced by Leonardo, after a necessary systems integration campaign. However, it could constitute an excellent desk for further technological collaboration between the two countries. In terms of the armaments, the P-1 can use: missiles of various types, from anti-toe to those against fast threats, bombs also of depths, torpedoes, mines and obviously the acoustic boes. If, on the other hand, the choice falls on the US P-8, it would be an already defined supply, or with little possibilities for Italy to equip them with its own systems, and therefore of a pure purchase from Washington. If we look at the past, the supply of the M-346 trainers in Israel (and the subsequent invitation to the Japanese to train in Italy on this airplane), opened the possibility of acquiring the Gulfstream electronic war aircraft made in the USA but equipped with Israeli technology, therefore apart from the technical assessments, this will be a negotiation to be played especially on a political and industrial level.
