Abstract: The Square Kilometre Array is a radio telescope with a total collection area around one million square meters, covering the frequency range between 50 MHz and 22 GHz. In the first phase, the instrument will have about a tenth of the final collecting area, and will be composed of two separate arrays: the Low Frequency Aperture Array, 130 thousands of
omnidirectional antennas between 50 and 350 MHz, and LFA-MID, 192 dishes between 350 MHz and 14 GHz. Even in this version it is one of the most complex scientific instruments ever conceived, with intermixed scientific, technological, managerial and political issues.
In this year the design phase will be concluded. The Italian radio astronomic community has been deeply involved, in particular in developing the digital beamformer for the LFAA. This beamformer will also be used in the Sardinia Array Demonstrator (SAD) and for a cryogenic Phased Array Feed (PAF) in the C band (PHAROS2, 4-8 GHz), that could be installed, in the near future, at the prime focus of the 64 meters Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT).