Denmark To Select Franco-Italian SAMP/T Over U.S. Patriot System

Danish media has reported that the country plans to procure the Franco-Italian SAMP/T long-range air defense system, rather than the U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot missile system. The SAMP/T will make up a component of Copenhagen’s planned ground-based air defense system. Denmark plans to invest approximately $9.1 billion in eight medium- and long-range air defense systems, with at least two of these systems to be SAMP/T, according to local media. The SAMP/T is a product of the joint venture Eurosam, a partnership between France’s Thales and Italy’s MBDA. The system is a mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to launch Aster 30 missiles via vertical launchers equipped to an 8x8 truck body. Denmark will be the first customer for the system in the European Union outside of Italy and France. The decision to procure the European system rather than the Patriot conflicts with the U.S. State Department’s August approval of the sale of two Patriot launchers, 36 MIM-104E tactical missiles and associated equipment to the Nordic nation.