Italia bets on air defence: bill for new generation Samp/T rises to 5.3 billion

After the sixth-generation fighter jet or Gcap project, which in the last few hours has been given the go-ahead by the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence Commission, the bill for a project that goes in the direction of strengthening air defence, including through the acquisition of the new Samp/T NG batteries, is also growing. In fact, the Defence Ministry's draft decree approving the multi-year programme for the modernisation, renewal and strengthening of national air and missile defence capabilities for the protection of national and NATO territory (reference of the act: SMD 32/2025) is being examined by the competent committees of the Chamber and Senate for their opinion.

The technical data sheet states that 'the total cost of the programme, started in 2021,updated by virtue of the new operational requirements of the Defence and under economic conditions 2024, is equal to 5 billion 341.87 million euro'. The previous decree (SMD 11/2021) provided for a budget of slightly more than three billion. This sum referred to the first phase of the programme, which is currently being completed. The second phase, the subject of the measure that is currently being examined by the parliamentary commissions for their opinion, 'has a cost of two billion and 291.87 million euro. This phase,' reads the attached report, 'is functional to continuing the activities already started with the previous decree.

In particular, it concerns the acquisition of SAMP/T New Generation batteries for the Army and Air Force, including tactical mobility vehicles, logistic support modules and ammunition transport kits. The package also includes the acquisition of Kronos Grand Mobile High Power radars and associated generator set, including tactical mobility vehicles, to ensure the operational continuity of the Army's SAMP/T batteries; the development and qualification of dual radar management capabilities; and the integration of the CAMM-ER launcher and missile into the SAMP/T New Generation batteries; the renewal of the ammunition fleet with the acquisition of Aster 15, 30 B12 and B I -NT3 missiles (evolutions of the Aster 30 munition), also in the training version, for the Army, Navy and Air Force, in order to capitalise on the development activities already carried out and to have a balanced mix of modernised missiles (equipped with MLU4 kits) and new missiles the modernisation of the Army's Aster 30 B1 missile fleet, with the acquisition of kits for half-life modernisation; the modernisation of the Navy's Aster 15 and 30 B1 missile fleet, with the acquisition of kits for transformation into the so-called Enahanced Capabilities configuration the upgrading of the Centro Interforze Munizionamento Avanzato (CIMA) in Aulla (MS) both in terms of infrastructure and maintenance capabilities; the construction of a seeker Ka integration line on the national territory; the ten-year logistic support for the maintenance and upkeep of the operational conditions of the Aster 15 and 30 B1 and B1NT systems and munitions.

The second phase will begin this year and 'will presumably end in 2039'. The preamble of the measure also specifies that it will be financed for an amount of EUR 2,291.87 million from the chapters of the investment sector of the ordinary budget of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, within the resources available under current legislation. In this regard, the technical data sheet recalls - as is the practice - that the administration is bound not to exceed the sums indicated in the act under consideration by the committees, and that where, in the course of the work, the need to exceed this spending limit emerges, it will issue a supplementary decree (of equal procedure), in order to ensure full transparency of the cost increase.

Avs group leader in the House Budget Committee Marco Grimaldi. "The SMD 32/2025 programme contained in the new ministerial decree (AG377) is yet another leap forward in the war economy that is devouring the public budget. The government is asking for an additional 2.3 billion for the new Samp/T NG batteries, while the total cost of the project has exploded from 3 to 5.4 billion without any credible technical explanation," it stressed in a note. "Lthe Defence Ministry - he recoils - speaks of "new operational requirements" but the batteries remain ten: no increase, only doubled costs. This is an anomaly that requires immediate transparency. We are talking about at least 60 launchers, over 700 missiles, new industrial plants, and a production consortium with a French majority. Meanwhile, from 2025 to date, the government has already committed 36 billion to military programmes, 16.5 since the beginning of the year alone".