Trained personnel, ready to be deployed on the cyber front as well: this is what the voluntary reserve will look like

A voluntary reserve forming a permanent component of the Ministry of Defence. Trained personnel who can be called up when needed, capable of reinforcing the Italian Armed Forces during crises, emergencies and the most challenging scenarios. This is the profile set out in the “2026 Policy Document” for the launch of the integrated cycle of performance planning and the drafting of the draft budget for the 2027 financial year and the 2028–2029 multi-annual planning period.

A snapshot offering a preview of some of the content, whilst we await the bill on the voluntary reserve to be tabled before the Council of Ministers. According to the latest draft of this bill, the intention is to provide for a gradual increase in the strength of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Military Medical Corps to 40,000 personnel by 31 December 2033, with annual targets starting from 2028. The draft bill would provide for three reserve components: operational (service personnel who have been discharged for no more than five years, available for recall even by order of the authorities), specialist voluntary (healthcare, IT and technical profiles, with direct conferral of rank) and territorial (volunteers aged between 25 and 35, recruited regionally, deployed in emergencies and civil protection). The government is seeking the necessary funding.

The Policy Document was published on 9 July.  It is made clear that the reserve component of the Armed Forces must be developed as a structural element of national defence capability, not as an ad hoc tool. The aim is to have a pool of trained and readily deployable personnel, capable of supporting and complementing the Armed Forces even in peacetime. The reserve must enable the Ministry of Defence to have more forces available when needed, without having to permanently maintain all the personnel required for every possible crisis.

‘Its contribution,’ the document clarifies, ‘must focus primarily on sectors where specialist expertise or additional personnel are required: logistics, military healthcare, cyber, infrastructure, command and control, technical and operational support, and advanced technologies. In particular, it will be crucial to integrate professionals from the civilian, industrial, scientific and technological sectors, so as to provide valuable expertise that is difficult to maintain on a permanent basis within the regular workforce, but which is indispensable in modern operational scenarios.”

‘The Reserve,’ the text continues, ‘must therefore be established in accordance with criteria of readiness, modularity, economic sustainability and scalability. It must be able to expand or contract in response to crises, be activated in stages, and enable the Military Instrument to endure over time, regenerate and continue to operate. In this way, the Reserve will contribute to a more flexible, more resilient and more credible defence, consistent with best allied practice and with the need for rapid expansion of the military force when the situation so requires.”