Georgia could be interested to purchase SAMP Aster 30 air defense missile system from France

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Defence & Security News - Georgia
 
Georgia could be interesed to purchase SAMP Aster 30 air defense missile system from France.
Georgia's defense minister has said that negotiations to acquire air defense systems remain underway, contrary to claims from his predecessor that Russia scuttled attempts to buy such weaponry from the West.
     
Georgia's defense minister has said that negotiations to acquire air defense systems remain underway, contrary to claims from his predecessor that Russia scuttled attempts to buy such weaponry from the West. French Army launch unit of SAMP/Mamba air defense missile system
     
According the Eurasianet.org website, Georgia has showed interest to acquire new air defense system from France. Ex-defense minister of Georgia, Irakli Alasania has started negociations to acquire air defense systems from France.

A "Memorandum of Understanding" on supply of new anti-missile systems and air defense systems was signed by the former Minister of Defence of Georgia Irakli Alasania and leading French weapons concerns on October 28 last year.

"Over the past 22 years, air defence has been our 'Achilles' heel,'" Alasania said in a TV interview, reported BBC Monitoring. "Therefore, when I came to the [Defence] Ministry, the first thing I did together with our military men was to determine air defence as our top priority. This was a system of exclusively defensive character, and I openly spoke about it in my plans."

Ex-Minister of Defense’s boast of the French anti-aircraft system being able to shoot down even the Russian “Iskander” missiles makes us think that he aimed to obtain the modern French anti-air system SAMP/T because only the Aster 30 type of active radiolocation targeting missiles are able to shoot down helicopters and planes at the altitude of 25 km and the distance of 100 km as well as destroy the Russian “Tochka-U” tactical ballistic missiles within the 35 km radius. The Aster 30 anti-aircraft missile may also be used against the more modern “Iskanders” as well, but at an even closer range.

Current Georgian Defense Minister, Mindia Janelidze said that increase of country’s air defense capabilities is one of the priorities for Georgian MoD and added that consultations on the issue are ongoing not only with France but with other partners as well.

“Active consultations are underway not just with one, but several partner states, to increase our air defense capabilities,” the Defense Minister said.
     
     
The SAMP/T also called MAMBA in the French army is a theatre anti-missile system designed to protect the battlefield and sensitive tactical sites (such as airports and sea ports) against all current and future airborne threats, including cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles in the 600 km range class.

The SAMP/T is produced by Eurosam, a 50:50 joint venture between MBDA and Thales. Its key components are the Aster 30 interceptor and Arabel multi-function radar. The SAMP/T has been designed to operate in extreme clutter and electronic countermeasures environments.

The SAMP/T uses Aster 30 block 1 missiles which are equipped with a modified seeker, fuse, signal processing and a directional blast warhead where larger warhead fragments are directed towards the target.

Aster 30 has the capability to intercept targets at altitudes from 50 m to 20 km. against aircraft targets flying at altitudes above 3 km, the maximum range of the Aster 30 is 100 km. At aircraft targets with altitudes below 3 km, the range of Aster 30 is 50 km.