Italy is ready to supply air defense systems to Ukraine but the transfer must be "compatible with the possibility of having these weapons and giving them to Kyiv in good working order."
The process must also be aligned with the Italian industry's capability to produce new surface-to-air missiles to replace the ones provided with these systems. This was the statement by the Minister of Defense of Italy Guido Crosetto in the interview to IlFattoQuotidiano.
Read more: SAMP/T Air Defense System For Ukraine: Why It Is the Best Option That Europe Can Deliver, Its Specifications And How It Works
"You don't find missiles in the supermarket like a jar of Nutella, they are complex systems that require long production times. You can't say: okay, tomorrow I'll go and buy a hundred missiles. They are not there. So if we give air defense systems to Ukraine, we must take them from our stocks and we must do it without losing sight of ourselves and with certainty of quality," Crosetto added, as quoted by the newspaper.
The Italian defense minister also assumed that russia can resort to nuclear weapons if it loses the fight on the battlefield, though the probability of a nuclear strike is quite low. Incidentally, Crosetto said Italy was planning back in 2014 to reach the compulsory for all NATO states defense spending threshold of 2% of GDP. But it hasn't been done yet.
According to The Military Balance 2022, Italian armed forces have 20 SAMP/T air defense systems and 32 Spada systems with Aspide missiles and some FIM-92 Stinger portable missile launchers.
As for the anti-aircraft artillery, there is no data available.
Defense Express earlier reported that Aspide systems from Spain have already arrived in Ukraine and they are already on duty protecting Ukrainian skies against russian missile attacks.
Read more: Poland Deploys Patriot Missiles Near Ukrainian and belarusian Border: What Area Will the Air Defense Systems Cover
