“This will allow Ukraine to defend itself against Russian drones, missiles and plane attacks, through the coverage of a significant part of the Ukrainian territory,” a ministry statement said.
The SAMP/T air defence system will be enhanced by the Thales Ground Master 200 (GM200) radar ordered by Ukraine earlier this week. The purchase of this radar will be financed by France. According to the French Ministry of Armed Forces, the value of the agreement is around EUR 200 million.
It is worth noting that the French defence ministry said about one GM200 radar for Ukraine, while the Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote in social media about the purchase of two radars.
SAMP/T is the only European long-range air defence system and thus is one of the most modern systems of this class in the world. The system is produced by Eurosam, a joint venture company of Thales and MBDA.
SAMP/T system with Aster-30 missiles is able to destroy aerodynamic targets at a distance of up to 150 km and at an altitude of up to 25 km. The system can also intercept ballistic missiles at a distance of up to 25 km and the same altitude. SAMP/T air defence system also employs the Aster-15 missiles, which are capable of intercepting targets at a distance exceeding 30 km.
The SAMP/T detection range is 300 to 400 km when the system uses a Thales Ground Master 200 (GM200) long-range radar.
As Defence Industry Europe reported, earlier this week France and Italy have jointly ordered around 700 air defence missiles of the Aster family, including Aster 30 B1 NG (New Generation), Aster 30 B1 and Aster 15.
