Kyiv to Get Franco-Italian SAMP/T Missile Defense System

France and Italy will arm Ukraine with SAMP/T mobile anti-aircraft system, French ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins confirmed this week.

A statement by Etienne de Poncins dated November 9 and made public on December 13 said all the lights are now green for the sending of this medium-range system, developed by MBDA and Thales within the missile-based joint venture Eurosam.

“France and Italy will provide Ukraine with the anti-aircraft defense instruments it requests,” said the French ambassador. “It is a very strong request that President (Volodymyr) Zelensky made and the Italians confirmed to us that they were ready to grant it. So we can meet their needs.”

The SAMP/T, also known as Mamba in Italian service, is a 21st-century Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) system designed to protect sensitive sites and deployed forces against missile threats (TBM, stand-off, cruise missiles, ARM) and aircraft, replacing all existing medium-range ground-to-air systems.

MBDA says the SAMP/T system is developed to meet medium and long-range air defense needs (force projection, protection of high-value areas and area protection). It can operate in stand-alone mode or can be integrated in a co-ordinated network.

The air defense system uses an ASTER two-stage missile, a concept which leads to maximum effectiveness of the interceptor stage. The solid propellant booster ensures the optimum shaping of the missile’s trajectory in the direction of the target and separates a few seconds after the vertical launch. Up to its mid-course, the weapon is inertially guided, using refreshed target data transmitted by the engagement module through the multi-function radar. During the homing phase, guidance is achieved by an electromagnetic active seeker providing a highly accurate capability in all weathers.