Italy’s Leonardo Calls for European Armaments Giants

Roberto Cingolani, chief executive officer and general manager of Leonardo, told Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung on January 2 that European arms manufacturers need to unite into giants. Cingolani oversees 54,000 employees and an annual revenue of $16 billion.

Leonardo—an industrial group specializing in aerospace, defense and industry—recently founded a joint venture with tank manufacturer Rheinmetall and holds around 23 percent of Hensoldt, the Munich-based armaments sensor supplier.

Everyone is working on their own strategy and their own weapons systems and platforms. … We now need the next step in Europe: a budget for European defense.
—Roberto Cingolani

An example to follow:

The latest joint venture between Rheinmetall and Leonardo is a good example. If the cooperation between companies from different countries works well, for example by bringing together several different production platforms, making the whole thing more efficient and saving money, then we will no longer see so many different tanks in Europe.
—Roberto Cingolani

He wants Europe to be able to compete with the world’s largest companies:

We are big, but nowhere near as big as U.S. companies, for example. … Europe must become stronger and more independent. And if [President-elect Donald] Trump says that the U.S.A. wants to spend less money on the security of our continent, then that is the way it is. We in Europe then need our own strategies and move closer together. But of course, it has to work in individual cases and create particular added value. For me, one plus one must always add up to three, not two.

Future wars:

Wars are fought today without a single shot being fired. I can paralyze traffic light systems, banks and hospitals with simple means. I can bring an entire country to a standstill in this way—that is also war today.
—Roberto Cingolani

Europe’s militarization prophesied: The Bible warns that a united European military superpower will suddenly rise (Revelation 17). It also warns that a military surprise attack will be preceded by an attack on America’s ability to defend itself (Ezekiel 7:14). Europe is acquiring the ability to do both.

Learn more: Read “Germany’s Astonishing Military Rise.”