Will Italy send Aspide missiles to Ukraine?
The Italian government is preparing a new weapons package for Ukraine, including the Aspide, old-generation Italian-made surface-to-air missiles
The Meloni government will send Aspide missiles to Ukraine.
According to government circles, the Council of Ministers scheduled for this afternoon should also examine the decree-law announced by Defense Minister Guido Crosetto to extend the support to 2023, including the possibility of sending military aid, of the Italy to Ukraine.
The provision is the precondition for giving the green light – between the end of December and the beginning of January – to the sixth interministerial decree with new military supplies to Kiev.
So far Rome has never revealed the details of the weapons it has sent to Kiev. However, according to Italian and Ukrainian media, previous shipments included Stinger surface-to-air missiles, Panzerfaust anti-tank rockets up to more powerful and more modern war systems such as the self-propelled MLRS and Pzh2000.
"The text, classified like the previous five packages, will also include – barring last-minute technical problems – the shipment of Aspide missiles" reports Repubblica .
The surface-to-air version of the Aspide missile has a useful range of over 12 km, while the more recent Aspide 2000 version has a range doubled to 25 km.
Spain has also already sent Shorad Aspide anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine: “these are materials that are not state-of-the-art but still capable of inflicting severe losses if used well” commented Ares Difesa .
All the details.
THE NEW IN ITALIAN MILITARY SUPPLIES IN KIEV
“ Nasams and Aspide air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine! These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and make our skies safer,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced on Twitter in early November.
So if Spain has already sent a battery of low-flying Shorad Aspide anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, for Italy it is a first time.
WHAT ARE ASPIDE MISSILES
The Italian armed forces have systems in service based on the Aspide missile: Spada for the Air Force, Skyguard for the Army and Albatros for the Navy, which have been in operation for about forty years, with more up-to-date air defense systems.
The Skyguard-Aspide is a short-range surface-to-air missile weapon system against the air threat conducted at low and very low altitudes created by the companies Mbda Italia and Rheinmetall. The system consists of a firing station and two launchers, called U2. In addition, the system has high tactical mobility, in fact, the deployment of a fire unit is possible in minutes. The system can engage airborne targets up to 3,500 meters above sea level with a highly supersonic top speed.
Last year the Air Force withdrew the Aspide missile system from service, as also indicated in the DPP 2019-2021. “But for Zelensky they are precious weapons, because his anti-aircraft guns of Soviet origin are one step away from collapse and the Aspides are considered very accurate” underlines Repubblica .
“As for the missiles in Italy's possession, they are deposited in the hangars of Rivolto (Udine), where the technicians have begun to “revitalize” the engines. The hypothesis is to donate four complete radar batteries, each with 18 missiles: the range is twenty kilometres, sufficient to protect a city from Russian drones and cruise ships” added the newspaper.
WHAT ABOUT SAMP-T?
Kiev's need for more and better air defense systems comes as Russia has stepped up aerial bombardments of Ukraine's critical infrastructure to offset the stalled ground campaign.
In early November, an Italian government official told Reuters that Rome was ready to supply Ukraine with a variety of air defense systems, including the "old" Italian Aspide and the medium-range Franco-Italian SAMP/T, as well as to Stinger portable missiles.
Recently, the President of Ukraine Zelensky has already urged Italy to send the Franco-Italian Samp/T air defense system. But so far Rome does not seem to have any intention of giving up the sophisticated systems since it has few in its supply (5 batteries located at the 4th anti-aircraft artillery regiment in Mantua).
According to Repubblica “The idea, which the Draghi executive was already working on, was to provide the war instrument, leaving the French with the task of guaranteeing the radar and missiles to be launched. Something got stuck, perhaps for technical reasons, perhaps also for some recent misunderstandings with Paris. At the moment, however, this instrument does not seem destined to be part of the new decree".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/litalia-mandera-i-missili-aspide-allucraina/ on Thu, 01 Dec 2022 14:29:49 +0000.