Italy Withdraws SAMP/T Missile Defense Battery from Turkey

The Italian Army deployed an SAMP/T medium-range air-defense battery to Turkey in June 2016 for 30 months, and will now withdraw it by the end of the year. (IT Army photo)

PARIS --- Italy has begun logistics activities to prepare for the withdrawal of the Italian Army SAMP/T anti-missile battery that it has deployed in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, since 2016 as part of NATO’s Operation ‘Active Fence.’

The announcement was made Oct. 24 by Undersecretary of Defense Angelo Tofalo during testimony before the Lower House’s Defense Committee and repeated in a post on his blog. When it voted on the deployment of the battery in 2016, the Italian Parliament authorized it until the end of 2019, Tofalo said, so the withdrawal is not tied to current events in the region.

Tofalo and Italian defense minister Lorenzo Guerini were at pains to stress that the withdrawal has nothing to do with the current crisis between Turkey and its NATO allies. Italy has a significant defense industry relationship with Turkey, and provides technology and know-how for several Turkish defense programs, notably the A-129 ATAK attack helicopter, the T629 utility helicopter and a bigger attack helicopter now under development.

Italy and France have also authorized Eurosam, the joint venture between MBDA and Thales which developed and produces the SAMP/T medium-range air-defense system, to help Turkey develop an anti-missile system of its own, and Italy clearly wants to avoid any disruption in its industrial cooperation with Turkey.

By December 31, the Italian detachment comprising 130 soldiers will therefore return home. The deployment of the SAMP/T, Tofalo said, "falls within the framework of the defense system that NATO guarantees to protect the populations of European countries that are members of the Alliance.”

The Italian deployment began in June 2016, following the withdrawal of the American and German Patriots deployed in Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras. The battery was deployed exclusively with the missile defense mission to protect the latter, while “contributing to the security of the entire region."

As for the conditions of the Italian military deployed there, Tofalo noted that “our contingent is more than 150 kilometers from the area affected by the present crisis," and is not affected by it.

Tofalo’s statement echoed remarks made at the NATO summit in Brussels, where Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini stressed that the withdrawal of the SAMP / T battery has no connection with the Turkish offensive in Syria.

It is not clear whether France will replace the Italian missiles with a similar SAMP / T battery as originally agreed, while Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the extension for six months of the deployment of the Spanish Patriot missile battery.

Guerini summed up the Syrian question by noting that "there is a shared concern for the Turkish initiative. The security reasons are understood, but the humanitarian emergency that has emerged requires a political solution. The weapons must be silenced, and now politics need to take over."

Originally deployed to protect Turkey from possible Syrian missile attacks when the Allied coalition began its Counter-ISIS operations in Syria, the missile defense batteries deployed by various NATO allies have never been tested as no missile attacks ever materialized.

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