Army Chief of Staff Speaks: Airplanes and helicopters cannot withstand the modern battlefield. Today this model no longer works
General Pietro Sereno, you are the chief of staff of the army, you command more than 90,000 men and women, and you are a great expert in military planning, you know war By profession and because he studied it extensively during his training: what do you think? A clash that we have seen for two months in the heart of Europe?
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What do you think of the sharing of the analyzes made in recent weeks?
“I was born as an assistant communications manager and periodically in my life had to update my knowledge of new technologies. Every war, since that waged by the ancient Romans, is based on the effectiveness of communications and technology. Russia vs Ukraine makes no difference, e Maybe the Russians did not understand this all along.”
What you mean?
“I have an image: today the fighter bombers of yesteryear have been replaced by drones, the radio has been replaced by the satellite, let’s find out who are the new travel companions modern army. I think the fact that armored formations should be underestimated Technological tools different from the pastIt is also for this reason that we find ourselves in great difficulty today.
They planned a blitzkrieg in the Kremlin and it didn’t happen.
“I think one of the most relevant considerations specifically relates to the new electronics and space fields, which may not be critical, but certainly play a decisive role: if they are not able to exploit the access to electronic technology and control of space, then the military could have great difficulty”.
Could this gap between Russians make a long-term difference?
“It seems to me that at present the use of satellite systems and the use of drones by the pretenders are not balanced, the armored forces are protected by planes and helicopters today unable to resist on the modern battlefield, which are also dominated by Counter shoulder, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles Air cover today is very risky, therefore not very effective, and we still see the use of attack formations in mode classic, which we knew in the 90s, so to speak, I refer to the Gulf War: today this model is not paying Suite. “
Does this mean that all the analyzes of the numerical strength of the Russian army have a relative value?
“We have been discussing the coordination of forces for weeks, starting from the tens of thousands of soldiers deployed, but little is known about the numerical entity and the nature of the adversaries on the ground. Of course, the earth must be inhabited, and human resources remain essential for the defense, the conquest and the preservation of the earth, but the forces which lack mastery of the technological means end up surrendering, it is a classic rule, since the time of the Roman wars. ”
The Italian army will complete 161 tomorrow. You are directing a very great transformation of the armed means at your disposal. Is our army modern enough?
“Over the past twenty years, she has also been a leader in our country, both within and outside national borders, and has earned the trust of all our allies and the people with whom we are in touch. Now that we have faced various missions, we need to renew the fleet of armored forces. We are working on it, and not We are investing only in new tanks and helicopters, but above all in ammunition and an artillery system with high precision up to 70 km. In the area of helicopters, we are leaving behind a park dating back to the 1980s. The resources are there and I hope Parliament, this one and the next, will continue to share benchmarks, Secretary Greene who believes in the need, in the interest of national strategic interests, for a necessary and effective modernization of the armed forces, and for which I wish to define .Army 4.0.
What do you think of the European army project, which has accelerated since the war in Ukraine?
“I think the key concepts are integration, interoperability and the synergistic relationship between European military forces and industries. Our first task is to defend the nation and its interests, and the second is to defend Euro-Atlantic interests. The fundamental cornerstone is that the two dimensions, NATO and Europe, continue to coexist, but with a military capability based on the non-duplication of military equipment, with a single group of forces that can operate under both organisations: it is an indispensable concept.”
Back to the ongoing war.
“The cyber dimension is now so pervasive that outsourcing operations to individual armed forces becomes counterproductive, even with traditional coordination. We need a common approach, with a very strong centralization towards a single command of all operations, and I think in the Western world there is a much greater awareness of this.
