On 22 January, the first materials of the SAMP/T New Generation (NG) and GRIFO surface-to-air missile weapon systems were delivered to the Italian Army inside the Santa Barbara barracks in Sabaudia (LT), headquarters of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Command (COMACA).
The SAMP/T NG, produced by the EUROSAM industrial Joint Venture, consisting of MBDA Italia, MBDA France and THALES, is a medium-range system that can also be used against ballistic missiles (Medium Range Air Defense and Ballistic Missile Defense), the result of a decades-long Italian-French cooperation under which the previous version of the SAMP/T was also created. already supplied to the Army and of which the new system constitutes the evolution.
Developed as part of a program launched in 2021, the SAMP/T NG delivered to the Italian Army has superior performance, thanks to the interception capability of the new Aster B1NT missile, over 150 km, and Leonardo’s Kronos grand mobile high power radar that guarantees threat detection at a distance of over 350 km, thus increasing the protection of the Forces from modern air and missile threats, including ballistic targets.
The GRIFO, on the other hand, developed and produced by MBDA in Italy as part of a program launched in 2019, which integrates the new CAMM-ER missile, will guarantee the protection of the Forces in the Short Range Air Defense segment, thanks to its ability to engage and neutralize a plurality of threats from the 3^ dimension, including fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft (including drones), cruise missiles and anti-radar missiles.
Both systems are characterized by high tactical mobility, flexibility and modularity of use, and represent a concrete response to the need to ensure an integrated multilevel (stratified) and omnidirectional (360°) defense based on the availability of multiple systems, complementary to each other and fully interoperable, also within the national and NATO air and missile defense networks.
The systems, delivered today to COMACA, meet the current operational needs for the protection of forces, critical areas and infrastructures and the population, in line with the path of renewal and enhancement of surface-to-air engagement capabilities launched by the Defense in recent years. After the acquisition of the SKYNEX system, with the first example delivered to the Italian Army last December, the program of renewal of air defense systems continues, and the Armed Forces takes a further step in the process of modernizing its capabilities, adopting advanced technologies, designed to increase the effectiveness and safety of soldiers on the battlefield.
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