AIAD is the Federation, member of Confindustria, representing Italian Aerospace, Defence and Security Companies.
About AIAD
We learn from the AIAD portal that the Federation:
It includes almost all the national high-technology companies that carry out design, production, research and service activities in the civil and military aerospace, naval and military land and electronic systems, cyber and security related sectors. AIAD maintains close and constant relations with national, international and NATO bodies and institutions in order to promote, represent and guarantee the interests of the industry it represents.
Significant is the activity carried out in this regard by the NIAG (NATO Industrial Advisory Group) guaranteed through its experts. The AIAD is a member, representing Italian industry, of the equivalent European Association (ASD). In this context, it is the reference interface for all national and foreign institutions for the coordination of any initiative in which there is a need to represent the industry’s national interests. It drafts and presents industry reports and positions to various government departments and any other foreign institutional organisation. It provides a significant contribution to the development of sector plans to be drawn up by Defence bodies and/or other State Administrations in the areas of Research and Innovation; Procedural, technical and contractual regulations. A close working relationship is now consolidated with the Defence Administration and General Secretariat, as well as with other Ministries such as Foreign Affairs, Enterprise and Made in Italy, University and Scientific Research or Bodies and Institutions such as ENAC, ASI, CNR, etc.. In order to monitor and foster a more effective coordination action in relation to activities and initiatives in the EU sphere, it has its own office in Brussels; there is also a permanent Federation garrison at the Defence General Secretariat to monitor and coordinate initiatives to support the internationalisation of its enterprises and to foster a structured and daily updated dialogue between Defence and Industry.
More details
It is also important to note the following:
The AIAD coordinates numerous working groups at national and international level, promotes the organisation of seminar and congress events and collects statistical reports on the trends of the major economic indicators. It is also the interpreter of an intense promotional activity abroad to co-ordinate Italian participation in the most important international events and to organise and co-ordinate the mission abroad of our enterprises but also the visit to Italy of foreign delegations. AIAD provides support through UNAVIA for Standardisation, Training and Personnel Qualification activities. In addition to UNAVIA, AIAD is also a member of ANPAM, the National Association of Manufacturers of Sporting and Civil Arms and Ammunition. The AIAD is a Founding Member of the National Technological Cluster for Aerospace (CTNA) for which it manages the General Secretariat.
Associates
Some 229 companies, both private and publicly governed, are members of the AIAD. These include names such as:
- AID-Defence Industries Agency (public body)
- CIRA-Italian Aerospace Research Centre
- Fincantieri Nextech S.p.A.
- KNDS Ammo Italy S.p.A.
- Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A.
- Fiocchi Munizioni S.p.A.
- Telespazio S.p.A.
What happened
On 26/10/2024, the Argonauts collective published an attack claim against AIAD. The attack on AIAD is important because it is a federation strongly impacted by the NIS2 Directive which, in the transposition decree(Legislative Decree 138/2024), includes the space sector among the highly critical subjects. As already written, the companies that are part of the Federation deal with sectors that also concern Defence and therefore armaments and related technologies. What is certain is that, as of the current date (2 December 2024), no news has been published in the ‘News’ section of the AIAD portal.
At the time of writing this article, the Argonauts ad has been consistently averaging 49 visits per day.
About the Argonauts collective
The Argonauts collective, according to Ransomfeed, has an apparently recent history. In 2024, it carried out 10 attacks divided between Taiwan, Italy and Japan (data as of 2/12/2024), with a known exfiltration of only a few gigabytes (around 340 at the time of writing this article). The official portal consists of only a few pages and, at least at the moment, does not include any manifestos describing their activities and motives.
