ROME — Italy is considering buying the Japanese Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft to tackle hostile submarines in the Mediterranean, a move which would break an Italian tradition of U.S. aircraft purchases and strengthen ties with Tokyo.
“The P-1 is is one of the possible options available,” Italian Air Force chief Luca Goretti told reporters on Friday when asked how Italy aimed to fill gaps in its maritime patrol capability.
“We have a great relationship with Japan,” he added.
A four engine platform designed from scratch as a maritime patrol aircraft, the P-1 has been in service in Japan since 2013. While export efforts to date have not been successful, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force now operates 33 aircraft.
As Italy retired the last of its long serving Atlantique maritime patrol planes in 2017 it acquired ATR 72′s jointly built by Airbus and local firm Leonardo to fill the role, operated by mixed Air Force and Navy crews.
But while offering electronically scanned radar, the aircraft lacked anti-submarine warfare capabilities and were only considered a gap filler.
A new purchase to fill that gap would coincide with renewed naval activity in the Mediterranean by friendly and hostile powers.
Acquiring the P-1 instead of the US P-8 aircraft would follow years in which Italy has looked to the U.S. for imported aircraft including B767 tankers, C-130s, Gulfstream sensor aircraft, F-35s and Reaper drones.
Italy has recently boosted ties with Japan as the two countries team with the U.K. on the GCAP sixth-generation fighter program.
In 2023, Leonardo also pitched its M-346 jet trainer to Japan to replace Tokyo’s Kawasaki T-4 trainers after Japanese pilots were dispatched to train on the M-346 in Italy.
In an address to the Italian parliament about the GCAP program on March 13, Air Force chief Goretti said working with Japan on the sixth-generation jet was prompting discussion about other possible team-ups.
“Right now there is an Italian delegation in Japan because there are other chances for growth with (Japan) including the development of a trainer for them as well as a joint patrol aircraft,” he said. “Our collaboration has opened other horizons which were unthinkable until very recently,” he added.
Goretti’s suggestion of an Italian jet trainer deal with Japan and a Japanese patrol aircraft deal with Italy hinted at a possible trade-off which recalls how Italy sold the M-346 to Israel in 2012 in return for buying Israeli sensor-laden Gulfstreams and an Israeli surveillance satellite.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
