Defense, here’s how Erdogan relaunches the Samp-T program with Italy and France
Turkey is willing to sign an agreement with Rome on the Samp-T air defense system project as soon as possible. All the details and interested companies
The president of Turkey is committed to relaunching defense cooperation with Italy, starting with Samp-T.
“We have an agreement with Italy to develop our collaboration in the military field. We continue on the Samp-T road. We talked about it today with the Italian defense delegations and we also talked about it with the French president Macron ”.
This was stated by the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the end of the Italian-Turkish intergovernmental summit in Ankara, in reference to the Samp-T missile defense system, which Turkey, Italy and France are developing in a joint project. "The dialogue goes on, there are no problems – said Erdogan – all three countries have the will to continue along this path".
Erdogan also stressed that his country's defense ministry is willing to sign an agreement with Rome on the Samp-T air defense system project as soon as possible.
All the details.
THE THIRD ROME-ANKARA INTERGOVERNMENTAL SUMMIT
During their third intergovernmental summit, made possible after nearly 10 years, Erdogan and Draghi said they were strengthening bilateral cooperation and promoting mutual defense interests.
Prior to the press conference, Turkey and Italy signed nine cooperation agreements in various sectors, including defense, trade, diplomacy and development. In defense matters, there is an agreement on the mutual protection of classified information in the defense industry. The purpose of the agreement is to guarantee the security of classified information exchanged between the Parties in the context of industrial development and procurement activities in the military field.
The Turkish president said that Ankara and Rome are willing to sign an agreement on the Samp-T air defense system project as soon as possible
“We discussed the matter again at our meeting today and our defense ministers addressed it the same way. We want to sign the SAMP / T as soon as possible. There are no problems in our agreement. We also have an agreement with Macron ”said Erdogan on the sidelines of the meeting with the Italian delegation.
THE SCENARIO OF THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE REOPENED THE DOSSIER OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF TURKEY
Against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, the president of Turkey Erdogan had already reopened the dossier of Ankara's involvement in the Sampt / T project.
In the statements released by the Turkish, French and Italian leaders after the NATO summit in March, it emerges that joint collaboration on the system will be accelerated. Indeed, the three countries had already agreed on this cooperation in 2017. Run aground in recent years due to political disagreements.
WHAT IS THE SAMP / T MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
Samp / t is the European air defense and anti-missile defense system, developed by Italy jointly with France since the 2000s.
This is a latest generation surface-to-air missile system developed by the European consortium Eurosam (made up of the companies Mbda Italia, Mbda Francia and Thales) for Italy and France. The aim is to replace the Hawk missile system. The weapon system is characterized by high tactical and strategic mobility (it can be easily deployed by air, sea and rail).
The Samp / T system is capable of neutralizing Tbm, Tactical Ballistic Missile threats, with engagements at distances up to 100 km.
Following the announcement by the United States of the dispatch of Norwegian surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) to Ukraine , which have a range of over 160 kilometers, it was hypothesized that Rome and Paris could contribute precisely with the ground system. air Samp / t.
THE EQUIPMENT OF THE ITALIAN ARMY
The Italian Army is equipped with 5 batteries at the 4th anti-aircraft artillery regiment in Mantua.
Since the system entered service in 2013, the armed force has deployed the Samp / T in multiple operational and training activities. As stated on the army website : “between 2015 and 2016 a Samp / T unit was deployed in Rome for the surveillance of the capital's skies on the occasion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy; at the same time a second battery operated in Turkey as part of the NATO “Active Fence” operation from June 2016 to December 2019 against tactical ballistic missiles coming from Syrian territory. In addition, Samp / t is included in the NATO Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) program. The latter was born with the aim of carrying out the defense of areas or vital objectives of interest to the Alliance from the missile threat ”.
The current version of Samp / T has cutting-edge capabilities in countering air threats and short-range tactical ballistic missiles.
MBDA WORKS ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE SAMP-T AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM
Finally, Mbda is already working on an advanced solution for Samp / T ground air defense systems.
“The evolution of the Euro-Atlantic scenario and the Ukrainian conflict have marked a change of pace in the awareness that national defense systems against increasingly technologically advanced threats are an essential element in maintaining national security and defense. This was underlined by Mbda's sales and business development Italy director, Franco Donfrancesco, in his speech during the round table organized yesterday by the Army Study Center "Terrestrial Forces, tomorrow is already here – the urgency of modernization".
“The control and defense of the national territory against missile air threats – he added – is now entrusted to the Samp / T land air defense systems, based on the use of the Aster ammunition family. The Samp / T, developed jointly between Italy and France, has been in service in the Italian Army since 2013, and is operationally integrated within the NATO defense architecture. Against increasingly high-performance threats, Mbda is working on an advanced solution for these systems that will be available as early as 2025 ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/difesa-ecco-come-erdogan-rilancia-il-programma-samp-t-con-italia-e-francia/ on Wed, 06 Jul 2022 09:38:19 +0000.