According to foreign media reports on July 15, Italian police seized a large amount of ammunition, including an air-to-air missile, during a search operation against the active strongholds of far-right groups in northern Italy. Police described the operation as "rare in history." The French-made S530F air-to-air missile, which was 3.54 meters long and performed well, was also used by the Qatari army. Suspects with ties to far-right parties intend to sell missiles for 470,000 euros. Police said the missiles do not contain explosives, but weapons experts can reassemble them.
As we all know, general air-to-air missiles can also become surface-to-air missiles after modification. For example, Yemen's Houthi armed forces have claimed to have converted a Russian-made R-27 air-to-air missile into a surface-to-air missile, firing and shooting down a Saudi Air Force's U.S.-made F-15 fighter jet. The Perak-8 and Perak-9 short-range air-to-air missiles as we know it have also been installed on warships and become ship-to-air missiles by adding rails on both sides of the twin 37 mm anti-aircraft guns for mounting missiles. A warship with 4 anti-aircraft guns can carry 8 missiles, which can provide a certain short-range air defense capability.
It is indeed a very serious matter that Italian far-right groups have acquired genuine air-to-air missiles and intend to sell them, and once they are converted into surface-to-air missiles, they can shoot down civilian airliners with considerable ease, causing heavy casualties. In addition, Italian police seized dozens of rifles, pistols, bayonets and batons, as well as hundreds of gun accessories, including silencers, rifle scopes and more than 800 cartridges, mainly from Austria, Germany and the United States, as well as nazi collections. During the operation, police arrested 3 men, including a former Senate candidate from a neo-Nazi party. It is clear that this far-right group is ready to "do big things."
In recent years, far-right populist forces have been rampant in Europe, and Nazis and fascists have also been eager to move, and there is a "heart-to-heart" between the populist forces in the United States represented by Trump, who was elected president in 2016. In April, Far-right Politicians from Europe, led by Le Pen, the leader of France's National Union, gathered in Prague, Czech Republic, to warm up for the European Parliament elections and criticize EU policies as "weakening the power of the nation-state." Right-wing populist parties have come to power in Italy, Hungary, Austria and Poland, and are on the rise in Countries such as France, the Netherlands and Germany. Therefore, it is not an accident that such a far-right organization with the intention of "doing big things" has appeared in Italy.