06. March 2013

SAMP/T Joint French-Italian firing against a ballistic missile

Firing of the Aster missile

On the 06th March 2013, the first SAMP/T Anti Tactical Ballistic Missile (ATBM) firing with tactical link L16 was successfully held in Biscarrosse (DGA Missile trial Centre). The SAMP/T was connected through a data link (L16) to NATO Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) centre located in Germany. Two SAMP/T sections were involved and co-lead by French and Italian military teams who started the operational preparation early 2013. The target launched by a fighter aircraft was destroyed by direct impact, fully aligned with the trials expectations.
This is the 28th successful firing since 2010, and demonstrates the high reliability, agile and effective rapid reaction of the ASTER systems.

The deep involvement of FSAF-PAAMS PD in technical and contractual activities contributed in the achievement of this important milestone, which will lead towards and contribute to the third and fourth Operational Capabilities (CO3: use of L16 and CO4: ATBM capabilities in L16) for France, and Full Operational Capability (FOC) for Italy. The extremely challenging and demanding technical requirements started more than one year ago in the preparation, involving complex management of interfaces with numerous systems interlinked.
The results of the above mentioned trials will enable SAMP-T now to join the NATO ATBM assets within a wide spectrum of military defence roles.

The French, Italian and OCCAR team