ROME — Italy is spending €31.3 billion ($36.2 billion) on defense this year, the country’s defense ministry has announced in a long awaited budget document released on Thursday.
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.
Italy 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 defense budget, a host of outlays that have been recategorized as defense spending have been added into the ledger, including pension payments and parts of the paramilitary Carabinieri police.
In the process the €31.3 billion defense 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 program, 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 defense ministry procurement funding will total €35 billion over the next 15 years.
In the list of programs 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 program 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 kickstart the program in 2027.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
