Ukraine close to finilising a deal to acquire SAMP/T air defence system from France and Italy
A deal to supply SAMP/T air defence system is close to being finalised by Ukraine along with France and Italy, official sources have said.
According to a report in Reuters on Thursday, January 26, it is still unclear how long the process will take until the final decision is announced.
The announcement comes on a day when Russia conducted a major missile strike across Ukraine, which is being reported as a retaliation to the agreement by the US and Germany to send battle tanks to the country.
Ukraine has been asking its Western allies to provide air defence systems to safeguard its territory from Russian strikes and has specifically been requesting for the SAMP/T since November 2022.
As per official reports, Sebastien Lecornu, the French defence minister is now scheduled to travel to Italy to meet his counterpart Guido Crosetto to further push this agreement forward.
A statement issued by official sources in France, cited by Reuters said, “We are finalising it with the Italians. It’s not very far off”.
The air defence system has been made jointly by a French Italian consortium and is capable of tracking dozens of targets and can intercept 10 targets at once. It is also the only European made system this is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles as well.
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