Russia has gone on a rampage against Ukraine with multiple barrages of drones and missile attacks aimed at obliterating its infrastructure. However, Ukraine finds itself in a bind with its air defense missile stockpiles almost running dry.
Citing unidentified sources, French publication Le Monde reported on May 26 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have run out of missiles for their two SAMP/T air defense batteries.
Additionally, the service has not received even a single missile for its French-made Crotale short-range surface-to-air anti-aircraft system in eighteen months.
This shortage comes as Russia batters Ukrainian cities with missile and drone attacks, necessitating a strong air defense response by Kyiv to neutralize these threats.
Ukraine’s emergency services said there was an atmosphere of “terror” in the country on May 25 after a second straight night of massive Russian air strikes, including on the capital Kyiv.
Ukraine has been rapidly depleting its air defense missile stockpile due to a constantly changing Russian strategy that involves an increasing number of projectiles fired simultaneously, such as drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles, and the complexity of the routes they take.
In addition, the interception rate in Ukraine has also allegedly plummeted. The report claims that Ukraine’s air defence managed to shoot down more than 90% of enemy drones as recently as 2024, but that figure has now fallen to 30% in certain areas.
Artem, a 34-year-old Ukrainian air defense battery commander, cited by the report, said Russian forces analyze the outcomes of every strike to identify weaknesses in the Ukrainian defense. This is followed by a modification in their strategy by programming their drones and cruise missiles to follow intricate paths to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses and deplete ammunition. “In some places, they scatter across the sky and then group up again. They also use a lot of physical and electronic decoys,” he said.
Artem’s unit also uses a large number of decoys on the ground to confuse the adversary. However, to face the increasing contingency, he stated, “We need a lot more long-range systems like Patriot, IRIS-T, and SAMP/T.” “Today, we have nothing to protect southern Ukraine from ballistic missiles.”
While the SAMP/T and Crotale missiles are not as advanced as the US-origin Patriot, they are critical in thwarting deadly attacks, particularly when massive barrages are unleashed.
The SAMP/T is designed to protect mechanized forces from air attacks by various air targets, such as aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, and to provide air protection for significant fixed installations.
Crotale, on the other hand, is a short-range air defense (SHORAD) missile system designed to intercept various airborne threats, including cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, helicopters, UAVs, and low-flying fighter aircraft. Thus, the perils of their shortage at this point cannot be overstated.
While the EurAsian Times could not independently verify the claims, it comes just over two months after the Wall Street Journal reported on the shortage of SAMP/T missiles in March 2025.
Ukraine received two batteries of these air defense systems from France and Italy. The SAMP/T uses the Aster 30 Block 1 missile to shoot down an incoming threat.
An Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reported in March this year that Ukraine had called on the French and Italian governments to urgently provide 50 Aster-30 missiles for SAMP/T anti-aircraft batteries because the current supply was almost exhausted.
However, the supply of these missiles in the Italian inventory had reached critical levels, limiting Ukraine’s options. France has more missiles than Italy, but not enough to spare for Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has always had a shortage of these missiles.
SAMP/T Air Defense Systems
The French-Italian SAMP/T surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, using Aster 30 Block 1 missiles, is designed to intercept a wide range of threats, including aircraft, drones, cruise missiles, and short-range ballistic missiles.
It can destroy aircraft at a distance of 3 kilometres to 100 kilometres and ballistic missiles at a distance of 3 kilometres to 25 kilometres.
The Aster 30 missile can travel at a speed of 1.4 kilometers per second and intercept targets at altitudes from 50 meters to 20 kilometers. It is a two-stage missile in which the booster steers the missile toward the target and separates a few seconds after launch.
The SAMP/T features a cutting-edge radar called Arabel that can track up to 100 targets and guide 16 missiles simultaneously, offering robust defense for key urban centers and infrastructure. Arabel is a 3D phased array radar developed by Thales that rotates to provide 360-degree coverage.
It operates at 150 kW peak power and has a range of 100 kilometers. Additionally, the SAMP/T can function in areas with heavy electronic countermeasures and extreme clutter.
The system has demonstrated that it integrates well with Ukraine’s air defense network, including Patriot and NASAMS systems supplied by NATO. However, as President Zelenskyy himself has highlighted, its efficacy has been called into question on multiple occasions.
“Regarding SAMP/T missiles, we’ve never had enough of them. That’s the issue with these systems. We’re grateful to Italy and France for providing us with what they have in service. These are sophisticated systems – good systems – but they’re not equivalent to the Patriot. They’re effective and can shoot down targets, but not everything the Patriots can intercept. We appreciate these systems and don’t want to specify the regions, but they have been, and continue to be, helpful. There is one problem with these systems – a significant shortage of missiles, which has always been a constant issue,” he said at a briefing.
The Patriot’s “shoot-shoot-see” approach, which includes firing two missiles per target, contrasts with the SAMP/T’s more conservative “shoot-see-shoot” doctrine, which may conserve munitions but could be less effective in high-intensity engagements.
The SAMP/T has faced challenges intercepting ballistic missiles, particularly compared to the Patriot system. Reports suggest that software issues and the limitations of the Aster 30 Block 1 missile (pre-2015 variant) hinder its performance against advanced ballistic threats. Previous reports stated that the system’s inadequate performance was due to maintenance issues, a lack of spare parts, and the fact that it uses an aging missile.
However, in March 2025, one of Ukraine’s two SAMP/T batteries proved its mettle when it reportedly shot down a Russian fighter jet.
The SAMP/T systems are strategically placed to protect key urban centers and infrastructure, complementing Ukraine’s six Patriot batteries. However, Russia’s intensified attacks, including saturation strikes with drones and missiles, have strained Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, highlighting the need for more systems and munitions.
Moreover, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, Yuriy Inhat, recently stated that Russia had upgraded its Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles with a quasi-ballistic trajectory and radar decoys, making it more difficult to intercept these missiles even for Patriot missile defense systems. This means that while the Patriots are superior to the SAMP/T, Russian missile and drone attacks are now effectively overwhelming all Ukrainian defenses and giving Ukrainian defenders a very hard time.
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