The war in the Middle East continues with new Israeli bombings on Tehran And Beirutwhile i Pasdaran they launched ballistic missiles in the direction of Tel Aviv. Despite the issue of the use of US military bases in Italy, at least for the moment There doesn’t seem to be any risk of a involvement direct of Italy or NATO, as confirmed by the prime minister Melons, who said that Italy “is not at war and does not want to enter it”.
In this new geopolitical context, however, it is legitimate to ask how the Italy’s air defense system and, in particular, the anti-missile shields that our country has at its disposal: in this regard, in January 2026 the Italian Army equipped itself with the new defense systems SAMP/T New Generation And GRIFOto strengthen military capabilities to counter threats coming from the so-called “third dimension”, i.e. from airspace. The main difference between these two systems concerns the range of action: the SAMP/T is a shield medium-long rangewhile GRIFO acts in the range of short range.
As the Italian Army highlighted in an official press release, the combination of these two systems – which are complementary and interoperable – ensures our country a stratified and omnidirectional (i.e. 360°) integrated defence.
How the SAMP/T New Generation defense system works
As reported by the Italian Army, the SAMP/T New Generation it is a medium-long range defense system that can also be used against ballistic missiles and which represents the evolution of the SAMP/T, already supplied to the Italian military.
Developed by the EUROSAM consortium (in which MBDA Italia also participates), this system is designed to provide 360-degree coverage and to counteract simultaneous attacks. It is in fact capable of neutralizing threats of various types: highly maneuverable aircraft, drones (UAVs), supersonic missiles and even ballistic missiles.
More specifically, the performance of the SAMP/T New Generation system includes:
- Better interception capabilities thanks to the new missile Aster B1NTwhich allows you to intercept targets beyond 150kmet al Kronos radar Grand Mobile High Power of Leonardo, which allows the detection of airborne threats beyond 350 km away, thus functioning as a shield against missiles, including ballistic ones.
- A system that includes a Command module and Control (C2), the module Radar and up to 6 mobile vertical launchers. Each launcher can accommodate 8 Aster family missiles, ensuring up to 48 missiles ready to fire.
The GRIFO system and the interceptor missile
The Italian Army has instead equipped itself with the GRIFO system to guarantee the protection of the Armed Forces in the segment short range (Short Range Air Defense): developed by MBDA – a European multinational group of which the Italian Leonardo is also part – the system is able to detect and neutralize multiple threats coming from the airspace (the so-called third dimension, with the first two being land and sea), such as fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft (including drones), cruise missiles and anti-radar missiles.
More specifically, the beating heart of this system is the interceptor missile CAMM-ER (Common Anti-air Modular Missile – Extended Range), improved compared to the previous version thanks to:
- A new enginedesigned and created by the Italian company AVIO.
- A homing sensor positioned on the missile head (active seeker), which autonomously guides the device towards the target with extreme precision.
