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Air, Space and Techno-Scientific Innovation in Italian Foreign Policy During the 1970s and 1980s

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Italy in the International System from Détente to the End of the Cold War

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Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s, the growing complexity of technology and science in aerospace and the increasing costs of research and development obliged nations to cooperate in an environment of ever increasing global competition. Italy participated in several bilateral projects, first of all with the US firms Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, which had the best technology at the best price at the time. The Italian government and private and state firms Fiat and Aeritalia with Finmeccanica were trying to take advantage of an increased role thanks to such cooperation. This was the sense of Italian policy for techno-scientific cooperation with France and the Federal Republic of Germany, and with the USA. Faced with a failed European Economic Community technology policy, Italy entered into a relationship with the USA in order to come out strengthened, and to then proceed alone towards other international cooperation. Italian politicians and experts/advisors succeeded by entering into the international aircraft market and by being the third contributor to the European Space Agency. This ‘success story’ is approached by defining the role of experts/advisors on one hand, and stakeholders on the other. Politicians may depend on technicians to such an extent that they imagine that political stakeholders or representatives choose only one of a series of options pre-selected by experts. Politicians consequently risk appearing to be entrapped by experts/advisors. Defining this interplay allows us to examine the political responsibility of a national establishment as regards successful innovation and development or, alternatively, their failure to achieve this.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for instance, AGARD (Advisory Group for Aeronautical, later Aerospace, Research and Development of NATO): Jan van der Bliek (ed.), AGARD. The History (1952–97) (Paris: Research and Technology Agency, 1997); NATO Archives, Brussels, S.G. 110/4, Report, Research and Development Committee and Logistic and Material Planners Standing Group, 5 February 1954, Object: Continuation of AGARD; Ibid., SGM-169-54, Memorandum, Military Committee-Standing Group to General Secretary, 5 February 1954, Object: Permanent activation and financing of AGARD; David Burigana , ‘Des “valeurs” en action? L’AGARD, ou la Communauté Atlantique de “savants” hommes d’entreprise de l’aéronautique européenne (1952–69)’, in European Community, Atlantic Community?, eds. Valérie Aubourg , Gérard Bossuat and Gilles Scott-Smith (Paris: Soleb, 2008), 366–389.

  2. 2.

    Michelangelo De Maria , Lucia Orlando and Filippo Pigliacelli, HSR-30, Italy In Space 1946–1988 (Noordwijk: ESA Publications Division, 2003); Lorenza Sebesta , ‘Un nuovo strumento politico per gli anni Sessanta. Il technological gap nelle relazioni euro-americane’, Nuova Civiltà delle Macchine 31, no. 2 (1999): 129–151.

  3. 3.

    Giovanni Caprara , Storia Italiana dello Spazio. Visionari, scienziati e conquiste dal XIV secolo alla Stazione spaziale internazionale (Torino: UTET, 2012); David Burigana , ‘L’“atlantista europeista”? L’Italia e la cooperazione aeronautica in Europa (1955–1978)’, in Storie di Armi, eds. Nicola Labanca and Pier Paolo Poggi (Milano: Unicopli, 2009), 75–100.

  4. 4.

    Filippo Pigliacelli, Una nuova frontiera per l’Europa. Storia della cooperazione spaziale europea (1958–2009) (Bologna: CLUEB, 2006).

  5. 5.

    David Burigana , ‘The European search for aeronautical technologies, and technological survival by co-operation in the 1960s–1970s: with or without the Americans? Steps, ways, and hypothesis in international history, HumanaMente, no. 16 (April 2011): 69–104.

  6. 6.

    For instance, in aeronautics: Jeffrey A. Engel , Cold War at 30,000 feet. The Anglo-American Fight for Aviation Supremacy (Cambridge Mass.: Harvad University Press, 2007); Kenneth Owen , Concorde and the Americans. International politics of the supersonic transport (Washington D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997); Annabelle May , ‘Concorde. Bird of Harmony or Political Albatross: An Examination in the Context of British Foreign Policy’, International Organization 33, no. 4 (1979): 481–508.

  7. 7.

    David Edgerton , Science, Technology, and the British industrial ‘decline’ (1870–1970) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Keith Hayward , International Collaboration in Civil Aerospace (London: Pinter, 1986); Francis Lynch and Lewis Johnman , ‘Technological non-co-operation: Britain and Airbus (1965–69)’, Journal of European Integration History 12, no. 1 (2006): 125–127; Pascal Griset (ed.), Georges Pompidou et la modernité: les tensions de l’innovation (1962–74) (Brussels: PIE-Peter Lang, 2006); Emmanuel E. Chadeau (ed.), Airbus, un succès industriel européen (Paris: Ed. Rive Droite, 1995); David Buirgana, ‘L’industrie aéronautique française et l’Europe depuis les années 1950: entre ancrage territorial et coopérations internationales’, in Entreprises de haute technologie, Etat et souveraineté depuis 1945, eds. Patrick Fridenson and Pascal Griset (Paris: Comité pour l’Histoire économique et financière de la France, 2013), 283–298.

  8. 8.

    John Krige , American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe (Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 2006); David Burigana , ‘Technology, a key factor in International History? The historiography and the interplay between experts and political decision-makers from Europe to international arena’, in Hommes et réseaux: Belgique, Europe et Outre-Mers. Liber amicorum Michel Dumoulin , eds. Vincent Dujardin and Pierre Tilly (Bruxelles: PIE Peter Lang, 2013), 213–222.

  9. 9.

    Richard Crossman , cabinet minister (1964–1970), Diaries of a Cabinet Minister and Solly Zuckerman , HMG’s chief scientific advisor (1960–1993), Monkeys Mend and Missiles, both quoted in John Peyton , Solly Zuckerman: A Scientist Out of the Ordinary (London: Murray, 2001), 131.

  10. 10.

    See John Krige and Kai-Henrik Barth (eds.), Global Power Knowledge. Science and Technology in International Affairs (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

  11. 11.

    Arthe Van Laer and Eric Bussière , ‘Recherche et technologie ou la sextuple tutelle des États sur la Commission, éternelle mineure’, in La Commission européenne (1958–72). Histoire et mémoires d’une institution, eds. Michel Dumoulin et al. (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007), 507–522; Arthe Van Laer , ‘Vers une politique de recherche commune. Du silence du Traité CEE au titre de l’Acte unique’, in Trends in Technological Innovation and the European Construction. The Emerging of Enduring Dynamics?, eds. Christophe Bouneau , David Burigana and Antonio Varsori (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2010), 77–96; Luca Guzzetti and John Krige (ed.), History of European Scientific and Technological cooperation (Luxembourg: EEC, 1997); Luca Guzzetti (ed.), Science and Power: the Historical Foundations of Research Policies in Europe (Luxembourg: EEC, 2000).

  12. 12.

    Mauro Elli , Politica estera ed ingegneria nucleare. I rapporti del Regno Unito con l’Euratom (1957–63) (Milano: Unicopli, 2007); Id., ‘Scienza e ragioni di politica estera nel Regno Unito. Il caso della Harwell Reactor School (1954–63)’, Ventunesimo Secolo 9, 2010, 93–114; Id., ‘La cooperazione nucleare in Europa: il caso dell’ENEA’, in Le sfide della pace, eds. Alfredo Canavero , Guido Formigoni and Giuseppe Vecchio (Milano: LED, 2008), 11–127.

  13. 13.

    Jean-Pierre Brulé , L’Informatique malade de l’État (Paris: Les Belles-Lettres, 1993); Pascal Griset (ed.), Informatique, politique industrielle, Europe: entre Plan Calcul et Unidata (Paris: Institut de l’Histoire de l’Industrie/Ed. Rive Droite, 1998); Pierre Mounier-Kuhn , L’Informatique en France, de la seconde guerre mondiale au Plan Calcul. L’émergence d’une science (Paris: PUPS, 2010); Alain Beltran and Pascal Griset , Histoire d’un pionnier de l’informatique. 40 ans de recherche à l’Inria (Paris: EDP, 2007).

  14. 14.

    David Burigana , ‘Aéronautique et aluminium entre innovation technologique, survivance nationale et leadership, de l’entre-deux-guerres à la concurrence Boeing/Airbus’, in Aluminium. Du métal de luxe au métal de masse (XIXe–XXIe siècle): From precious metal to mass commodity (19th–21st century), eds. Dominique Barjot and Marco Bertilorenzi (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris Sorbonne, 2014), 107–130.

  15. 15.

    Vera Zamagni , Finmeccanica (Bologna: il Mulino, 2009).

  16. 16.

    The structural system, or frame, is similar to the fuselage of an aircraft. The frame is made of very strong but lightweight materials, like titanium or aluminium, and usually employs long ‘stringers’ which run from top to bottom and which are connected to ‘hoops’ which run round the circumference. The ‘skin’ is then attached to the stringers and hoops to form the basic shape of the rocket. The skin may be coated with a thermal protection system to reduce the heat of air friction during flight and to remain in the low–temperature range required by certain fuels and oxidisers. Fins are attached to some rockets at the bottom of the frame, to provide stability during flight. https://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/rockpart.html (accessed on 20 March 2017).

  17. 17.

    Minister of scientific research (July 1983–July 1987) with Craxi I and Fanfani VI.

  18. 18.

    Centre des Archives Diplomatiques, Nantes (hereafter CADN), Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Dossier Economic Relations, Research and Technology in Italy, AFIRIT Association franco-italienne pour la Recherche Industrielle et Technologique 1984–88, Study on the technological development of Italy, Daniele Mazzonis, Sergio Ferrari, Giuseppe Lanzavechia, Gian Felice Clemente (ENEA) and Daniel Gabay (CNRS and Polytechnic).

  19. 19.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 173, Note, Embassy of France, Rome, Scientific Service, April 1982: Italian Space Plan (1982–86).

  20. 20.

    Ibid., Embassy of France, Rome, Scientific Service, Note on the National Space Plan, middle term n° 1218 November 1979, and ‘Etat d’avancement du PSN au 31.12.81’ n° 2255 January 1981.

  21. 21.

    Luciano Fonda , Operazione sincrotrone a Trieste (1980–1987). Storia di una iniziativa scientifica (Trieste: Ed. Italo Svevo, 1988). In a meeting with Hubert Curien , the French minister for scientific research, on 12 December 1984, Granelli remarked that internal political reasons aimed at the creation of an international laboratory at Trieste, and for this he asked for coordination with the French project in Grenoble. The plan also involved Prof. Carlo Rizzuto , president of the National Association of Science of Matter (Italy), and the future director of Elettra in 1999; CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Embassy of France, Rome, Scientific Service, Note, 18 December 1984.

  22. 22.

    Henry Atkinson , ‘Commentary on the History of ILL and ESRF’, History of European Scientific and Technological Cooperation, 147–153; CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 52, Telegram 1073, 31 October 1986, Ambassador Andreani, on a Franco-Italian Scientific Association, a project sponsored by Granelli and Carlo De Benedetti ; Ibid., Note, Research and Technology Minister, Cabinet of Minister, Technical Adviser, 18 June 1985, Report on ministerial meeting at Franco-Italian Summit in Florence, Granelli and Curien on Grenoble Center and EEC and Italian participation.

  23. 23.

    Mauro Giacca , Farewell Arturo Falaschi , 9 June 2010; http://www.icgeb.org/tl_files/News/Obituary_A_Falaschi_MG.pdf; and brief biography of Arturo Falaschi ; http://www.icgeb.org/arturo-falaschi.html (accessed on 20 March 2017).

  24. 24.

    Law 284, June 1985.

  25. 25.

    Project of Law, ‘Instructions for the organisation of Ministry for Coordination of Scientific and Tehcnological Research’, (Commission VII ‘Education and Arts’, 12 June 1985).

  26. 26.

    ASI was operative as from the passing of Law 186, May 1988.

  27. 27.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Telegram 941, Rome, 23 September 1986, Lecourtier, Franco-Italian Summit, preparatory meeting of Directors of Economic Affairs and of Europe.

  28. 28.

    ‘L’Agenzia Spaziale Italiana ha il suo capo’, La Repubblica, 25 August 1988.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., Telegram 847, Rome, 25 August 1988, Lecourtier.

  30. 30.

    Sergio Zaninelli , Ricerca, innovazione, impresa: storia del CISE 1946–1996 (Bari: Laterza, 1996).

  31. 31.

    Cerrai was the creator of CIRENE: the reactor Ci.Re.Ne (Cise/CISE Reattore a Nebbia) was a nuclear reactor designed entirely in Italy between 1956 and 1986, albeit along a winding and uneven path. A prototype of the reactor was built in 1989, but never became operative. The design involved natural uranium as fuel, heavy water as moderator, and steam as cooling fluid: Enrico Cerrai , Anna Maria Lombardi and Flavio Perozzi , ‘CIRENE: Storia di un progetto atomic italiano’, Le Scienze, no. 490 (June 2009): 66–73.

  32. 32.

    Chairman and founder of MARS (Microgravity Advanced Research and Support) and first chairman of CIRA (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali). Napolitano had studied in the USA in 1955 as a Fulbright scholar, and was a doctor of philosophy at the University of Brooklyn; Giovanni Caprara , “NAPOLITANO, Luigi Gerardo”, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. LXXVII (Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, 2012).

  33. 33.

    ‘Divergenze fra i partiti sul piano per lo spazio’, L’Unità, 10 November 1978.

  34. 34.

    Undersecretary for scientific research (1968) and for foreign affairs (1969–1976); minister for arts and the environment (1976–1978) and of education and universities (1978–1979) before entering the European Parliament (1978–1984); Mario Pedini , Quando c’era la DC. Ricordi personali di vita politica (1945–84) (Brescia: Fondazione civiltà bresciana, 1984); Id., Tra cultura e azione politica: quattro anni a Palazzo Chigi, 1975–1979, vol. 1–2 (Roma: Istituto Acton, 2002).

  35. 35.

    Atti Parlamentari. Camera dei Deputati. VI Legislatura. Discussioni, Seduta del 14 maggio 1975.

  36. 36.

    David Burigana and Pascal Deloge (eds.), L’Europe des coopérations aéronautiques, Special issue, Histoire économie & Société, no. 4 (2010): 1–128.

  37. 37.

    Michelangelo De Maria and Lucia Orlando , Italy in Space. In search of a strategy 1957–1975 (Paris: Beauchesne, 2008); Caprara, Storia italiana dello spazio.

  38. 38.

    John Krige , Arturo Russo and Lorenza Sebesta , A History of the European Space Agency (1958–1987), 2 Vols. (Noordwjik: ESA Publications Division, 2000); Filippo Pigliacelli, ‘Like a Stone Guest. European Space Cooperation and the Birth of Community Research Policy, HumanaMente, no. 16 (2011): 105–132.

  39. 39.

    Lorenza Sebesta , Alleati competitivi. Origini e sviluppo della cooperazione spaziale tra Europa e Stati Uniti (1957–1973) (Roma/Bari: Laterza, 2003).

  40. 40.

    Historical Archives of the European Union, Florence (hereafter HAEU), ESA 4649, Inter-Office Memo from DG Urgent, Confidential, Subject: The ‘Italian Question’, 23 September 1976, Visit to Rome by Director General of ESA, R. Gibson, to Minister Mario Pedini , Undersecretary Giorgio Postal , Chief of Cabinet Antonio Mancini.

  41. 41.

    Mauro Marcantoni , Giorgio Postal (Trento: Fondazione Museo storico del Trentino, 2010).

  42. 42.

    HAEU, ESA 4649, Minutes of meeting of Director General R. Gibson with Undersecretary Postal and the Italian Delegation, G. Dondi, 4 October 1976.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., Résumé de la situation vis-à-vis de l’Italie en matière de recherche technologique, 23 February 1977.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., Note, The tripartite meeting in Rome among ESA, Italian Authorities and the Italian Industry, 25 February 1977.

  45. 45.

    For Italian firms: Sacerdote Aeritalia; Scandone CNR-SAS; Mariani STET; Verde Compagnia Aerospaziale Italiana (CIA); Bonanni Montedel-Laben; Brunelli Montedison; Morabito Selenia; Rossignoli CGE-FIAR; Dalla Volta CGE-FIAR; Marri Selenia; Bellini Selenia; Fargnoli CIA; Laurenzio SNIA-Viscosa; Mango CNR; Teofilatto CIA.

  46. 46.

    HAEU, ESA 6921, Note, Meeting Pedini and Gibson, Rome, 6 November 1975, and Letter, from Pedini to Gibson, 13 November.

  47. 47.

    Ernesto Vallerani , L’Italia e lo spazio. I moduli abitativi (McGraw-Hill: Finmeccanica, 1995): 14.

  48. 48.

    In November 1969, after a decision by CIPE, following the Caron Report, set up Aeritalia in Naples: FIAT Aviazione, Aerfer and Filotecnica Salmoiraghi (owned by FIAT-Finmeccanica). Active since January 1972.

  49. 49.

    HAEU, ESA 6921, Note, R. Gibson discussion with G. Postal, 1 February 1977.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., Note, Meeting with Postal, Scientific Director E.A. Trendelenburg, and V. Manno, Rome 28 June 1978. Italian authorities: Saverio Valente , Luigi Broglio , Cesare De Porto , Giovanni Cammarano , Alessandro de Iaco Veris , Francesco Scandone , Livio Scarsi , Margherita Hack , Giuseppe Colombo , Claudio Chiuderi , Alberto Egidi , Franco Pacini , Giuliano Boella , Giancarlo Setti .

  51. 51.

    (MAU) Million accounting units: a conventional monetary unit used from the early 1960s within the framework of the joint European space effort; from 1975, the MAU was defined as a standard ‘basket’ of the EEC currencies weighted according to the average over five years of the gross national product and intra-European trade of each state; in 1976: MAU was 1.30 US$, 3.05 DM, 5.22 FF, 0.57 £GB and Lire 815. Krige, Russo, Sebesta, A History of the European Space Agency, 575.

  52. 52.

    HAEU, ESA 6921, 30 March 1977 ESA/Italian Delegation meeting in Paris.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., Letter, R. Gibson to Pedini, 15 June 1977, answer to Pedini’s, 28 April 1977.

  54. 54.

    The totals of Italian contributions were 5750 (1972), 9659 (1973), total 14,932 (1974); those to Spacelab 2060; 28,511 (1975) to Spacelab 7448; 34,938 (1976) to Spacelab 12,701; 40,253 (1977) to Spacelab 16,800; total of payments received 3625 (1972), 6755 (1973), 7562 (1974) of which, for Spacelab, 898; 22,548 (1975) for Spacelab 9123; 17,584 (1976) for Spacelab 4971; 19,960 (1977) for Spacelab 7537. Ibid., Note, 9 June 1978, Relations with Italy R. Gibson: talk with Giovanni Cammarano , Scientific Advisor to the new Italian Minister Antoniozzi since March 1978.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., Note, G. Van Reeth.

  56. 56.

    Luciano Guerriero , director of the National Space Plan, cooperated with MIT and the University of California, Berkeley; Ernesto Vallerani , heading the Italians in Spacelab, came from Caltech (California Technology Institute); Carlo Buongiorno , leader of the San Marco Project, and head of the space bureau in the Ministry for Scientific Research, had all attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute with Luigi Gerardo Napolitano , director of the Institute ‘Umberto Nobile’ (University of Naples) and chairman of the IAF.

  57. 57.

    Aeritalia, Carlo Gavazzi Controls, Centro ricerche FIAT, Centro studi dei sistemi CISE, Oerlikon Contraves, CSATA, Elsag, FIAR, FIAT Avio, Italspazio, Italtel, Laben, Microtecnica, Officine Galileo, SAE, Selenia Spazio, SMA, SNIA BPD, Telespazio and VDS.

  58. 58.

    Luciano Guerriero and Ernesto Vallerani , Space made in Italy (Milan: Fiera di Milano, 1986).

  59. 59.

    Giovanni Caprara , Più lontano nello spazio. Storia di Giuseppe Colombo (Milano: Sperling and Kupfer, 2006).

  60. 60.

    Giovanni Caprara , Shoot an arrow to the Sun. Giuseppe Colombo ’s ideas from imagination to reality (Padova: CISAS Centro Studi Aerospaziali, University of Padova), 2009.

  61. 61.

    Franco Malerba , La vetta. The summit (Genova: Tormena, 1993).

  62. 62.

    Vallerani, L’Italia e lo spazio, 128.

  63. 63.

    Ibid., 120, 124.

  64. 64.

    Bruno Catalanotto and Claudio Falessi (eds.), Anni di Aeritalia (Città di Castello: Aeritalia, 1991).

  65. 65.

    European federalist, undersecretary for civil aviation and defence, chairman of the Center for developing aeronautical transport, member of the European Commission, and later undersecretary to budget under the Moro (1963–68) and Rumor (1968–69) governments.

  66. 66.

    Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris (hereafter AMAE), Europe 1971–75, RFA 3027, Telegram., Burin des Roziers, Rome, 5 February 1971.

  67. 67.

    Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei Deputati, VI Legislatura, Discussioni, Seduta del 18 maggio 1975.

  68. 68.

    Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei Deputati, VI Legislatura, Discussioni, Seduta del 14 maggio 1975.

  69. 69.

    Boeing Archives, Seattle, 2952/1, History of B767, Participants Status. Ibid., RMG/mlh 12/16/74, Boeing/Aeritalia Program, Subject: Legally Binding Obligations—Current Assessment. Reference: (1) Memorandum of Understanding dated October 21, 1971, as amended; (2) Letter Agreement dated November 29, 1973, plus Referenced Draft of New Memorandum of Understanding; (3) Official Minutes of Various Joint Board Meetings held from February 1972 to November 1973. The following summarises the current legal obligations existing between the parties in accordance with the above documents.

  70. 70.

    Atti Parlamentari, Camera dei Deputati, VI Legislatura, Discussioni, Seduta del 14 maggio 1975.

  71. 71.

    Giuseppe Gabrielli , Una vita per l’aviazione. Ricordi di un costruttore di aeroplani (Milano: Bompiani, 1982).

  72. 72.

    Vallerani, L’Italia e lo spazio, 6–7.

  73. 73.

    Infrared astronomy, stellar astronomy, solar astronomy, high energy astronomy, atmospheric and ionosphere sciences, life sciences, material sciences, Earth resources, communications, and space electrophoresis; the first six were published in a report in May 1973.

  74. 74.

    Krige, Russo, Sebesta, A History of the European Space Agency, 572.

  75. 75.

    Vallerani, L’Italia e lo spazio, 15.

  76. 76.

    COSMOS: leader MBB FRG; SNIAS Italy, MSAS UK, Selenia Italy, ETCA Belgium, CASA Spain, CIR Switzerland; STAR: leader BA UK; Dornier FRG, Contraves Switzerland, Thomson CSF France, GSE-FIAR and Montedel Italy; MESH: leader ERNO FRG; Aeritalia Italy, BTM Belgium, HSD UK, Matra France, Philips Netherland. Winners for Spacelab: COSMOS and MESH.

  77. 77.

    Ibid., 32.

  78. 78.

    David Burigana , ‘Toujours troisième? La République Fédérale et la survivance technologique de l’“espace aérien européen” du bilatéralisme à Airbus, entre rêve intégrationniste et pratique intergouvernementale (1959–78)’, in Changing Times: Germany in the 20th Century Europe, eds. Jürgen Elvert and Sylvain Schirmann (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2008), 182.

  79. 79.

    David Burigana , ‘L’Italia in volo! Il ruolo dei militari italiani nella cooperazione aeronautica fra politica di difesa e politica estera: il caso del Tornado (1964–70)’, in Nazione, interdipendenza, integrazione. Le relazioni internazionali dell’Italia (1917–1989), eds. Federico Romero and Antonio Varsori (Roma: Carocci, 2008), 2:167–186.

  80. 80.

    Lorenza Sebesta , ‘Un nuovo strumento politico per gli anni Sessanta. Il technological gap nelle relazioni euro-americane’, Nuova Civiltà delle Macchine 31, no. 2 (1999): 129–151.

  81. 81.

    Massimiliano Guderzo , Interesse nazionale e responsabilità globale. Gli Stati Uniti, l’Alleanza atlantica e l’integrazione europea negli anni di Johnson (1963–69) (Firenze: Aida, 2000), 373–374; Sebesta, Alleati competitive, 186–190; Burigana, ‘L’“atlantista europeista”?’

  82. 82.

    On its ties with Franco–British aircraft cooperation and the possibility of UK entry to the EEC, see Lynch, Britain and Airbus. On the propositions of European technological communities and EEC framework, see Van Laer, Bussière, ‘Recherche et technologie’.

  83. 83.

    Spanish translation of original Italian reports on meetings; Archivos de l’Esercjto de l’Ajre, Madrid (hereafter AEA), 13256, Dispatch Col. Emilio Garcia-Conde Ceñal, Air Attaché, Rome, 16 October 1967.

  84. 84.

    Documents Diplomatiques Français. 1965, Tome II, doc. 272, Telegram n. 1531–5, Armand Berard , Rome, 17 November 1965, Reserved, For joining Concorde (Brussels: PIE-Peter Lang, 2005), 606–607.

  85. 85.

    CTDC, Fuji, Kawasaki and Mitsubishi signed an agreement in November 1972: The National Archives, Kew Gardens (hereafter TNA), FCO 14 1006 Development of Airbus by Japan.

  86. 86.

    Conversation of Boeing with Secretary of State, William Pierce Rogers, on 27 March 1973; National Archives and Records Administration (hereafter NARA), files online, Department of State, Rogers, to American Embassy (Amembassy), London, 11 April 1973.

  87. 87.

    Conversation of Luigi Azais, Assistant to President of Aeritalia, with Raymond C. Ewing, First Secretary, on 20 March 1973; NARA, RG 59 SNF 70–73 Ec 643, T. A-177, Amembassy, Ambassador John A. Volpe , Rome, 28 March 1973.

  88. 88.

    On the anti-Airbus character of the Boeing B7X7 project: AMAE, Europe 1971–75, RFA vol. 3027, Dispatch, Embassy, Rome, 26 September 1975.

  89. 89.

    See David Burigana and Pascal Deloge, ‘European co-operation in the fields of armaments standardisation and military Aeronautics: with or without Great Britain?’, in Beyond the Customs Union: the European Community’s quest for completion, deepening and enlargement (1969–1975), ed. Jan van Der Harst (Brussels: Bruylanat, 2007), 61–81; Burigana, Toujours troisième?, 177–196.

  90. 90.

    A sort of ‘Schumann Plan for aircraft’ was illustrated by Spinelli in May 1975 at a conference organised by the Financial Times about ‘World Aerospace and Air Defence Industries’; HAEU, AS 33, Spinelli’s contribution, ‘Une véritable industrie aérospatiale européenne existera-t-elle jamais?’, 27 May 1975. This new ‘Schumann Plan’ was to inspire Spinelli’s Plan d’action pour l’Aéronautique européenne published by the European Commission on 1 October 1975. With its dual technology, the aircraft industry was in an ideal position to re-launch industrial development in Europe, as affirmed by the Plan d’action but, at the same time, there was one reason for objecting to US technological leadership. See HAEU, AS 33. The Plan d’action was also signed by the vice-president of the European Commission in charge of transport, Carlo Scarascia Mugnozza, and published in the Bollettino delle Comunità europee, 11/75, 3 October 1975, 1–33. See also Altiero Spinelli , La mia battaglia per una Europa diversa (Manduria: Laicata, 1979), 67–78; David Burigana , ‘Per uno “spazio aereo europeo”, o l’impossibile via all’integrazione (1972–78)’, in Europa vicina e lontana. Idee e percorsi dell’integrazione europea, eds. Federica Di Sarcina , Laura Grazi and Laura Scichilone (Firenze: CET, 2008), 165–177.

  91. 91.

    Altiero Spinelli , Diario europeo (1970–76), edited by Edmondo Paolini , vol. 2 (Bologna: il Mulino, 1991), 510.

  92. 92.

    HAEU, ESA 4629, Washington Office Fax Ian, 17 February 1984.

  93. 93.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Atomic and Space Affairs, Report, 14 March 1984, Audience of James Montgomery Beggs.

  94. 94.

    Vallerani, L’Italia e lo spazio, 202.

  95. 95.

    Krige, Russo, Sebesta, A History of the European Space Agency, 567–568.

  96. 96.

    Ibid., 635–636.

  97. 97.

    Ibid., 636.

  98. 98.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Telegram, Rome 143, 1 February 1986, Italian reaction to the explosion of Shuttle Challenger.

  99. 99.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 51, Ministry of Industry, Note, Italian-French Summit, 3 December 1986, Meeting between Granelli and Alain Madelin, Research Minister, on Space.

  100. 100.

    Interview to Ernesto Vallerani , Europeo, 18 January 1986.

  101. 101.

    Vallerani, L’Italia e lo spazio, 204.

  102. 102.

    CADN, Italie Ambassade, 1981–92 579PO/4 172, Ministry of Industry, Posts and Telecommunications, and Tourism, General Direction of Industry, Service for Competition, 30 October 1987, Note on meeting between research ministers Antonio Ruberti and Alain Madelin.

  103. 103.

    We do not quote the successful project ATR (Avion de Transport Régional), an agreement signed in 1981 by Aeritalia and Aérospatiale, nor the AMX fighter with the Brazilian Embraer or exportations of AerMacchi trainers; and, last but not least, not even the commercial success of cooperation on the Boeing B767 and McDonnell Douglas. See David Burigana , ‘A European intergovernmental Defence? Italy, Germany and the European policy approach to armaments cooperation’, in Italy, Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany in Europe. A triangle of Mutual Relations and Perceptions from the Period 1945–49 to the Present, eds. Michael Gehler and Maddalena Guiotto (Wien-Koln-Weimar: Böhlau, 2012), 485–506.

  104. 104.

    HAEU, ESA 6921, 15 October 1979, visit to the new Italian minister Vito Scalia with Umberto Vattani , who had very probably been made aware of the geographical returns by Roy Gibson and Jan Stiernstedt, Chair of ESA Council (1978–1981).

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    David Burigana

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    Antonio Varsori

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    Benedetto Zaccaria

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Burigana, D. (2018). Air, Space and Techno-Scientific Innovation in Italian Foreign Policy During the 1970s and 1980s. In: Varsori, A., Zaccaria, B. (eds) Italy in the International System from Détente to the End of the Cold War. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65163-7_10

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