With bilateral and defense ties between Turkey and Italy at an all-time high, Ankara is considering purchasing the SAMP/T air defense system, which could be integrated into the Turkish Steel Dome air defense network. This contrasts with the Russian S-400 Triumf, which has been awaiting activation for nearly a decade.
Turkey and Italy are in negotiations to purchase and jointly manufacture the European-made SAMP/T air defense system, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources.
SAMP/T (Sol-Air Moyenne Portée/Terrestre) is a mobile, long-range surface-to-air defense system jointly developed by France and Italy through the Eurosam consortium, made up of MBDA, Thales, and Leonardo.
Notably, Turkey has long sought the SAMP/T batteries, but its requests had previously been rejected by France due to several issues, including Turkish military actions in Syria, maritime and energy disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean, and NATO’s disenchantment with Turkey due to its ties and understanding with Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly been pressing his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to lift political obstacles to SAMP/T co-production.
Meanwhile, Italy has continued backing a joint working group amid the strengthening of diplomatic and defense ties with Turkey. In fact, Italy is poised to acquire a Turkish carrier-based unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), becoming the first European customer for the variant, as EurAsian Times recently reported. The TB-3 carrier-based drone will operate from the Italian Navy’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier.
Before this, Turkish drone maker Baykar and Italy’s Leonardo established a partnership for unmanned aerial technologies in March 2025, with assembly possibly in both countries to ease certification for sales in a European market worth $100 billion over the next 10 years.
Ankara’s potential acquisition of the SAMP/T comes after Turkey faced multiple ballistic missile attacks from Iran.
Though Iran denied that it deliberately attacked Turkey, NATO deployed two US-origin Patriots to defend the alliance assets on Turkish soil, such as an advanced early-warning radar system at Kurecik, in eastern Turkey, and the Incirlik Air Base near the Syrian border, where hundreds of US personnel are stationed.
Although all the missiles that strayed into Turkey were intercepted, the incident reinforced the need for a meticulous, impenetrable air defense network.
These attacks may have encouraged Turkey to seek the SAMP/T for integration into the “Steel Dome” air defense network.
Approved by Turkish President Erdogan in August 2024, the Steel Dome is an AI-enhanced, network-centric shield that aims to provide comprehensive protection for Turkish airspace.
The Steel Dome is classified as a ‘system of systems’ and integrates various indigenous technologies developed by Turkish defense giants like Aselsan, Roketsan, and MKE.
Interestingly, Turkey has excluded the combat-proven Russian S-400, which it defiantly bought at the expense of the fifth-generation F-35 Stealth fighter, from the Steel Dome initiative, as previously explained in detail by the EurAsian Times.
Turkey acquired the S-400 because it needed long-range air defense systems to plug a capability gap, particularly as equivalent NATO systems (such as Patriots and SAMP/T) were either delayed or denied. However, the US expelled Ankara from the F-35 program over concerns that integrating the Russian-origin SAMs into the Turkish Armed Forces would jeopardize the F-35 stealth fighter program.
Turkey has not activated its S-400 air defense systems as it continues to seek the F-35 from the United States to upgrade its air power amid rising regional security threats.
Buying the SAMP/T instead of the Patriot would help Turkey reduce its reliance on the United States. Moreover, it could become more readily available than Patriot, whose production and delivery are stretched amid a surge in global demand.
What Is The SAMP/T?
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.
Manufactured by Eurosam, a 50:50 joint venture between MBDA and Thales, it is designed to defend against airborne threats, including cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft, and tactical ballistic missiles.
The system can function in areas with heavy electronic countermeasures and extreme clutter and is interoperable with other NATO air defense systems.
A typical SAMP/T battery consists of one multi-function radar (originally the rotating Arabel phased-array radar providing 360-degree coverage), an engagement module for command and control, and up to six transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicles.
Each TEL carries eight vertically launched Aster 30 missiles, allowing a battery to field up to 48 ready-to-fire interceptors. The Aster 30 missile is a two-stage missile in which the booster steers the missile toward the target and separates a few seconds after launch.
The system is highly automated and requires a relatively small crew—around three personnel per firing unit and about 20 for a full battery. It can deploy quickly, often within 15 minutes, and is designed for “shoot-and-scoot” operations.
The launchers are mounted on high-mobility 8×8 truck chassis, making the entire system air-transportable by aircraft such as the A400M.
With its state-of-the-art Arabel radar, which can track up to 100 targets and engage 16 missiles simultaneously, the SAMP/T provides strong defense for critical infrastructure and urban areas. Additionally, it can also operate in environments with many electronic countermeasures and significant clutter.
The SAMP/T can engage air-breathing targets such as aircraft, cruise missiles, and UAVs) at ranges up to about 100 kilometers and intercept tactical ballistic missiles such as those launched from over 600 kilometers away when supported by external long-range cueing.
The upgraded variant of the system, known as the SAMP/T NG, would further extend these capabilities by offering engagement ranges exceeding 150 kilometers against aerodynamic threats, greater altitude reach, and enhanced anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM) performance, supported by the Aster 30 B1NT missile and new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars.
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 would seamlessly integrate into NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) network.
The Russian S-400, which Turkey acquired, cannot be integrated with NATO systems. However, the SAMP/T is designed for interoperability via Link 16 and other alliance standards. This would allow Turkish forces to share real-time data with allies and improve overall situational awareness.
Turkey has been advancing its own systems, such as the short- to medium-range Hisar series and the long-range Siper.
Against that background, the SAMP/T could serve as a bridge or technology accelerator, helping fill the upper-tier gap while Turkish engineers gain knowledge in areas like advanced AESA radars, command-and-control software, and Aster missile technologies.
In high-threat situations, the system’s operational strengths—quick reaction time, resistance to electronic warfare, the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously, and “shoot-and-scoot” mobility—would improve the protection of vital assets such as air bases, population centers, and military concentrations. Italy has previously deployed SAMP/T to southern Turkey for NATO against the potential Syrian missile threats, demonstrating its suitability for the region.
France has promoted the system as an alternative to the US-made Patriot air defense system, as part of calls for European self-sufficiency. “Those who buy Patriot should be offered the new-generation Franco-Italian SAMP/T. Those who buy the F-35 should be offered the Rafale. That’s the way to increase the rate of production,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview in March 2025.
It now remains to be seen whether France will green-light Turkey’s acquisition of the SAMP/T or veto it once again.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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