Ukraine was supposed to receive a third battery of the SAMP/T air-defense system. It had previously been announced that it would arrive in October this year, but it is not currently known whether it has actually been delivered.
Meanwhile, the Chief of the French Armed Forces General Staff, Fabien Mandon, believes their SAMP/T in Ukraine is even better than the Patriot. Specifically, they claim their system now counters ballistic missiles better than the American system. This was reported by Opex 360.
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However, when SAMP/T arrived in Ukraine it also had a number of problems. For example, it initially experienced software issues that caused difficulties intercepting ballistic targets.
There was also a shortage of missiles themselves stocks and production are very limited, though efforts are being made to fix that. Its worth adding that among the Aster missile family, the ability to intercept ballistic missiles exists only in the Aster 30 Block 1 and Block 1 NT variants.
The latter has extended capabilities for intercepting such targets, but it was only recently first tested, and a specially improved SAMP/T NG optimized for it is being developed which Ukraine does not have.
Thus, the SAMP/T systems in Ukraine are using Aster 30 Block 0 and Aster 30 Block 1. The Block 0 lacks the capability to counter ballistic targets, while the Block 1 likely has only very limited such capability in addition to the standard ability to intercept aerodynamic targets.
However, it should be noted that recently there have been reports that the Iskander ballistic missiles have been modernized, and there are four possible explanations of what changes may have been made.
Among other things, this could explain a decrease in interception rates of these missiles by Patriot systems. France and Italy, however, claim that this has not been a problem for their SAMP/T, and that it continues to operate effectively against such targets. That is why SAMP/T is allegedly better than Patriot.
Finally, Denmark and Belgium when choosing between Patriot and SAMP/T opted for the latter. It should be emphasized, however, that they selected the SAMP/T NG, which is supposed to have enhanced ballistic-intercept capabilities.
So Denmark and Belgium decided that SAMP/T NG will likely be more capable than the American system. Although, probably the decision was not based solely on that: it is also a European system and appears likely to be cheaper for them.
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