France, Italy, Turkey resume talks for air defense cooperation

Europe, Middle East, News March 27, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

France, Italy, and Turkey have agreed to resume talk on a trilateral defensive cooperation deal after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on the sidelines of the NATO Leaders Summit in Brussels on March 24.

After meeting with the Turkish President, the Italian prime minister stated that three countries would meet soon to devise a plan on moving forwards with the defense cooperation. Draghi recalled the time when Italy, France, and Turkey came together for a cooperation platform for Turkey to acquire Eurosam’s SAMP/T missile defense system. “We have decided to reactivate this group, we will have a meeting between three countries soon,” he said.

The initial deal for the SAMP/T missile defense system was made between Turkey and French-Italian consortium Eurosam in July 2017. However, the delivery process was interrupted after Turkey carried out its “Operation Peace Spring” in Syria in 2019. Turkey’s military operation in Syria faced severe condemnation from the French President resulting in the suspension of the trilateral defense agreement.

The talks for the revival of the defense agreement have surfaced again at a time when Turkey is under severe pressure from the U.S. and NATO countries because of its procurement of the Russian-made S-400 anti-ballistic missile defense system. Turkey initially moved to purchase the Russian missile defense system after failing to reach negotiations with the U.S. to procure U.S.-made Raytheon’s Patriot surface-to-air missile systems.

After concluding his meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Turkish President Erdogan stated, “There were some steps we took between Turkey and France. We have decided to continue our efforts to reconsider those steps, the Turkey-France relations, and even to revive the steps we have taken as Turkey-France-Italy. I hope that we will start this new process strongly after the election.”

The Eurosam consortium is made up of several European arms manufacturers including MBDA, Airbus, Britain’s BAE Systems, Italy’s Leonardo defense systems, and French defense manufacturer Thales. French state-owned fighter jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation is the main stakeholder in Eurosam.

*^{SAMP/T Medium-Range Air and Missile Defense System. (Image Credit: Eurosam)}*

The SAMP/T system is fielded by France and Italy to protect against short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, fighter jets, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the MDAA, The SAMP/T Air Defense System is equipped with a command and control vehicle, up to six transporter erector launcher vehicles (with eight Aster interceptors and a supply of reloading missiles), and Arabel radar.

Earlier in December 2020, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the NATO member state Turkey due to its purchase order of the Russian-made S-400 defense system. The U.S. also expelled Turkey from its F-35 program citing the same reason.

After having a positive response from Italy and France to revive the missile defense system cooperation deal, Turkish President Erdogan stated that he is also hopeful for positive feedback from the U.S. on the acquiring new F-16 fighter jets.