Letter to Parliament

As a result of the general consultation of 1 October last, I am informing you of the decision by Italy concerning its participation to the Initial Operational Test And Evaluation (IOT& E) of the JSF. (/)>> Recently the Italian project director has informed the Dutch, American and British partners that Italy will abandon its participation to the IOT& E and, with that, also of the purchase of the first test aircraft this year.>> As a reason, the new [Italian] government has invoked the need to reduce expenditure.>> The Italian decision has no financial consequences for the Netherlands.>> Moreover, the Italian government has reaffirmed its explicit support for the JSF program, and has confirmed the Italian participation to the System Development & Demonstration (SDD) phase.>>> (Signed)> Dr. Jack (J.G.) de Vries> State Secretary for Defence>>> Click here for the full letter to Parliament (in Dutch; 3 pages in PDF format) on the Dutch MoD website.>>> (EDITORS NOTE: Repeated attempts to contact the Italian Ministry of Defense on Oct. 7 and 8 were unsuccessful. We will update this item as warranted.)>> (ends)>