The Italian Minister of Defense, Roberta Pinotti, and the French Minister of Defense, Jean-Yves Le Drian, signed a ‘Cooperation Arrangement’ agreement which aims to pursue the joint development of the Aster 30 Block 1 NT missile. With this agreement, Italy is joining with France who launched the development program in December 2015. 

The Aster 30 Block 1 NT program comprises, in addition to the upgrade of the Aster missile, the modernization of the SAMP/T systems currently in service with the French Air Force and the Italian Army. These systems as a result will see themselves featuring enhanced capabilities notably against ballistic missiles and thereby making essential contributions to the NATO program in this domain.