JohninMK wrote:There is a rumour out there that the French will supply Aster systems. But it ain't true. They would have been mad to submit it to real world testing, it might ruin their marketing, bit like the IRIS-T.
"OpexNews
@OpexNews
·
Oct 30

The rumor that France would send #Mamba systems to Ukraine with Italy is false.
A source from the Ministry of the Armed Forces tells us that France is NOT going to send SAMP/T Mamba systems to #Ukraine. This rumor is unfounded."

The Aster missile—named after the Greek word for “Star”—was conceived in the 1990s by Eurosam, a consortium of MBDA and Thales, to defend warships from enemy aircraft and sea-skimming cruise missiles at short range. Today, Aster missiles can be found in the launch cells of warships including the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers and France’s Horizon-class frigates.
In the 2000s, Eurosam began developing an enlarged Aster missile with four times the range to provide area air defense. This new Aster 30 not only supplements the short-range Aster 15 variant at sea, but is also deployed on a land-based launcher, the SAMP/T (French: “Surface-to-Air Medium-Range/Land-based”), replacing dated I-Hawk and Crotale SAMs
The latest Aster-30 Block 1NT model can intercept aircraft up to seventy-five miles away, and can fly fast and high enough (maximum 65,000 feet) to intercept tactical and short-range ballistic missiles, as well as low-flying drones, cruise missiles and aircraft.
https://www.mbda-systems.com/product/aster-15-30/