Italy is paying a lot more for fewer F-35s. On 30 October 2026 the government sent parliament a draft decree, programme SMD 5/2026, that continues the country’s 2009 F-35 programme with a new multi-year funding tranche. If approved, the total programme cost rises by about 54 percent over the original 2009 estimate, while the planned fleet falls from 131 to 115 aircraft. The new money would be paid out between 2027 and 2039.

What Changed Since 2009

When Italy joined the programme in 2009, it planned to buy up to 131 aircraft: 69 conventional F-35As and 62 short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs. The total was cut to 90 under the Monti government in 2012, and raised back to 115 in the 2024–2026 defence planning document. The current plan is 75 F-35As for the Aeronautica Militare and 40 F-35Bs, shared equally between the air force and the navy.

The Defence Ministry gives four reasons for the higher bill: revised security requirements, more expensive technology upgrades to the weapon system “also in relation to the evolution of the strategic context”, inflation, and the euro–dollar exchange rate. The extra funding also covers adapting the jets to new technologies and munitions, longer logistic support, infrastructure and consolidating the industrial capacity at Cameri.

Divided simply by the number of aircraft, the programme cost per planned jet rises by about 76 percent. That is not a unit price: the programme total includes support, upgrades, infrastructure and the Cameri plant, expressed at 2026 prices.

What Parliament’s Analysts Flagged

The research services of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate produced their own dossier on the decree on 9 November. It points out that the programme documents make no reference to relations with industry, international cooperation or export prospects, even though the 2009 programme was sold partly on the industrial work it would bring to Italy. The analysts also note that the total funding does not match the figure in the 2025–2027 defence planning document, and suggest that MPs ask for updates on both points.

Opposition members on the Senate’s foreign affairs and defence committee secured a postponement of the debate on 10 November.

Cameri: Italy’s Stake in the F-35

Italy’s position in the F-35 programme is unusual. In 2009 the United States agreed to a final assembly and check-out facility at Cameri air base, near Novara, the only one granted to any of the partner nations at the time. Cameri, run by Leonardo, assembles Italian and Dutch F-35s, produces complete wing sets for aircraft assembled in the United States, and has been chosen as the European centre for heavy maintenance and upgrades.

The first flight of an F-35 assembled at Cameri, 2015. Video: Lockheed Martin.

Inside the Cameri factory. Video: La Stampa.

What the Viral Post Gets Right

The post going around is accurate on the substance: the government has asked parliament to approve a revised F-35 programme that raises the total cost by more than 50 percent over the 2009 estimate, for 115 jets instead of 131, citing technology upgrades, security requirements, inflation and the exchange rate, with payments running to 2039, and parliament’s analysts did find the documents silent on industrial returns and exports. Two details need care. The per-jet figures it quotes are simply the programme total divided by the number of aircraft, not what each F-35 costs. And the analysts’ second finding, that the funding does not match Italy’s own defence planning document, deserves as much attention.

Sources: Camera dei Deputati and Senato della Repubblica, Servizio Studi, dossier on Atto del Governo n. 452 (programme SMD 5/2026, 9 November 2026); Reuters (10 November 2026); Il Fatto Quotidiano (10 November 2026); L’Indipendente (10 November 2026); Affaritaliani (10 November 2026); Leonardo, F-35 Lightning II programme page.