This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 005468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR PM/DTCP, NP/NPC/ECNP, EUR/WE 
DID FOR SPACE POLICY - RITCHESON; DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY 
SECURITY/SPACE DIVISION - WALDING; C3I - MANNO 
JOINT STAFF FOR J-5 - WHALEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2008 
TAGS: PREL ETTC MASS IT CH TSPA EXPORT CONTROLS
SUBJECT: ALENIA SPAZIO CEO MAURIZIO TUCCI'S MEETING WITH 
THE AMBASSADOR 
 
REF: A. A. ROME 3842 
     ¶B. B. ROME 4744 
     ¶C. C. STATE 283728 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MEL SEMBLER FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
 ¶1. (C) Summary. Alenia Spazio CEO Maurizio Tucci described 
for the Ambassador on November 28 his keen interest in 
ensuring that nothing undermine the growing relationship of 
trust fostered by recent Italy-U.S. discussions on dual-use 
export controls and technology transfer.  Tucci said he was 
eager to prevent the European Commission's agreement on 
Galileo with China from souring Alenia's relationship with 
the USG.  He underscored that there was a distinct difference 
between Alenia's direct commercial engagement with China and 
efforts by Galileo Industries to explore cooperative 
activities with the Chinese.  Tucci could control the former 
but not the latter; however, he would urge Alenia personnel 
to take a narrow view of technology sharing on all fronts. 
Tucci repeatedly promised to keep the Embassy fully informed 
of the Alenia-China relationship, especially because 
Alenia--hit hard by the downturn in the European commercial 
satellite sector--was placing great hope in the company's 
ability to expand in the U.S. market.  End Summary. 
 
 
Space Sector in Crisis 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Alenia Spazio CEO Maurizio Tucci called on the 
Ambassador in his office on November 28.  The Ambassador was 
joined by ECMIN, ODC Chief, and PolMiloff (notetaker).  Tucci 
opened the conversation by lamenting the current crisis in 
the European commercial satellite market.  The Italian space 
sector is 
suffering, he said bluntly.  To spur a recovery, Alenia 
Spazio wants to reinvigorate its partnership with Italy's 
public institutions, in particular the Italian Space Agency 
(ASI).  Tucci made clear, however, that his company's 
relations with ASI (and especially ASI Director Sergio 
Vetrella) has been strained.  At the moment, there is a clash 
of visions, with Tucci interested in working more closely 
with NASA and capturing additional U.S. market share. 
Vetrella (according to Tucci) remains skeptical about this 
approach.  Tucci said that Alenia Spazio had hired Booze 
Allen to conduct a technical assessment of Alenia's 
capabilities and ability to capture niche markets in the U.S. 
 He repeatedly underscored his view that, "the key market for 
space technology is in the United States". 
 
China Cooperation 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Following this introduction, Tucci told the Ambassador 
that the prime motivation for his visit was China, and 
specifically his concern that nothing occur to upset the new 
understanding between Italy and the U.S. that developed from 
bilateral discussions on dual-use export controls and 
technology transfer in Rome this past July (ref A).  Tucci 
said he was worried that the European Commission's recent 
agreement to include China in the development of Galileo 
could create misunderstandings about Alenia's intentions. 
Tucci claimed that he would not be able to assert operational 
control over Italian managers' engagement with China on 
Galileo cooperation. (Comment: We believe Tucci meant that 
because these managers will be working for the Galileo 
consortium, he as the Italian head of Alenia Spazio will not 
have direct control over their activities. End Comment)  He 
alerted the Ambassador that Alenia Spazio Vice Chairman 
Giuseppe Viriglio is interested in traveling to China soon to 
discuss Galileo.  Tucci assured the Ambassador that he had 
cautioned Viriglio about the importance of maintaining the 
new foundation of trust that the July meeting had fostered. 
 
¶4. (C) Continuing, Tucci said he would urge Viriglio to 
strictly limit his discussions with the Chinese to 
Galileo-related matters, but indicated that he was worried 
about losing control over the process.  He has given clear 
 
 
instructions to Alenia Spazio managers "not to be open" to 
technology transfer with the Chinese, but noted that if China 
is a Galileo partner, it will inevitably have access to 
information about project development.  Tucci claimed that he 
"had always been clear about what Alenia was doing with 
China," and would maintain a policy of transparency with the 
U.S., promising to keep the Embassy fully informed of future 
developments. 
 
¶5. (C) Tucci, turning to Alenia's direct commercial 
engagement with China in the space sector, said company 
managers had done a thorough scrub of Alenia's prior 
relations with the Chinese.  He told the Ambassador that two 
Alenia managers, whom Tucci said he fully trusted, will 
travel to China in December to explore cooperative 
opportunities, but they will operate "within the framework of 
the July agreements" (Ref C).   He said that if the U.S. 
should come across information about any other senior manager 
traveling to China it should rest assured that he would be 
discussing only/only Galileo. 
 
¶6. (C) ECMIN noted that the Embassy had recently told the 
Italian Foreign Ministry that the U.S. would not object to 
Alenia's moving forward on each of the five proposed China 
projects (Refs B and C), provided certain conditions were 
met.  ECMIN asked Tucci how Alenia Spazio planned to proceed. 
 Tucci confirmed that the MFA had communicated the USG 
position on the projects.  Alenia, he continued, had 
interpreted our responses as reflecting continuing USG 
concern over the data relay satellite; the company had 
therefore decided to forego that project, Tucci stated.  More 
generally, Tucci said that Alenia was facing a business 
challenge because it had broken off relations with the 
Chinese.  "We don't really know if the Chinese are still 
interested in the type of work they were originally 
requesting," he said.  A first step would be to explore the 
lay of the land and assess whether business opportunities 
were still available in China.  Tucci underscored that the 
type of projects Alenia would be evaluating were at the low 
end of the technology spectrum, e.g., telemetry, low 
frequency band applications, scientific satellites without 
military applications, receivers, and antennas.  He concluded 
by again promising to keep the Ambassador fully informed of 
developments. Transparency, Tucci insisted, is the basis of 
Alenia's relations with the U.S. in the space sector. 
 
Targeting the U.S. Market 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Tucci expressed to the Ambassador his hope that Alenia 
had established enough credibility with the USG to help it 
gain a stronger foothold in the U.S. market.  Alenia is 
trying to convince the USG that the company has high quality 
niche products that are worthy of consideration.  In 
particular Tucci claimed that Alenia had developed SAR 
technology capable of processing 1,900 images daily, which 
could be used on U.S. Air Force platforms and USG satellite 
constellations.  The U.S. does not have similar technology, 
he asserted.  He confirmed that the SAR technology Alenia had 
developed would be used in its Cosmos Skymed earth 
observation satellite constellation. Alenia would provide a 
turnkey system to ASI.  Alenia Telespazio would provide 
competence for the earth segment in terms of integration of 
digital images. 
 
¶8. (C) Interestingly, Tucci described Cosmos Skymed as mainly 
a military project; however, Alenia would be promoting SAR 
plus data manipulation capabilities to both military and 
civilian users (Comment: This was the first time we had heard 
the military applications of Cosmos Skymed played up so 
forthrightly.  In the past, the constellation had always been 
pitched to us as a dual-use satellite system with a 
predominantly civilian focus in areas such as environmental 
monitoring, crop control, and coastal management. End 
Comment). Tucci explained that Alenia's U.S. business targets 
were primarily the National Security Agency and other DoD 
elements.  Tucci told the Ambassador that he had discussed 
Alenia's strategy with Nicolo Pollari, Chief of External 
 
 
Intelligence (SISMI).  He confirmed that Alenia was 
considering U.S. (Boeing Delta Rocket), Russian, and French 
launch service options for Cosmos Skymed.  ECMIN urged Tucci 
to ensure that there was a level playing field for all 
competitors. 
 
¶9. (C) Tucci told the Ambassador that Alenia still placed a 
high priority on civil space cooperation with NASA.  Alenia 
had built nodes two and three of the International Space 
Station (ISS) and wants very much to be involved in the 
Orbital Space Plan.  However, Tucci again asserted that ASI 
President Sergio Vetrella does not consider cooperation with 
the U.S. a priority and therefore is not supporting Alenia's 
involvement with NASA projects.  Tucci claimed that NASA 
wants Alenia's participation in the ISS for its expertise in 
orbital infrastructure, but ASI was simply not providing the 
necessary attention to make sure this was nailed down.  Tucci 
did not offer any insight into what lay behind Vetrella's 
alleged position.  Nevertheless, he asked the Ambassador to 
raise this issue with Letizia Moratti, Minister for 
Education, Science, and Research and PM Berlusconi should the 
opportunity arise.  The Ambassador took the request on board, 
without making any commitment.  Tucci said that Alenia's 
interest in cooperation with NASA was so deep that the 
company had recently shipped a piece of equipment for the ISS 
worth 32 million Euros without guarantee of payment.  Neither 
ASI, NASA, nor ESA had indicated a willingness to take 
responsibility for compensating Alenia; an issue that Tucci 
said was in need of resolution. 
 
¶10. (C) Comment.  Tucci, who replaced CEO Giorgio Zappa as 
Alenia's CEO last year, struck us as genuinely committed to 
continuing the transparancy and information-sharing regarding 
his company's relations with China, which he demonstrated in 
the July 2003 dual-use bilateral talks in Rome.  He clearly 
believes access to the U.S. space sector is critical to 
Alenia Spazio's long-term economic health. End Comment. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2003ROME05468 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL