«Mamba» is already in action: Ukraine has deployed the first European SAMP/T MAMBA missile defense system

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Europe's first long-range anti-missile system, which is a modern analogue of the famous American Patriot system, SAMP/T MAMBA, has already been deployed in Ukraine. As you know, Macron promised to supply Kiev with these weapons in early February 2023, and now said during his speech in At a meeting on European air and missile defense in Paris: «I am pleased to announce to you, together with my Italian colleague Giorgia Meloni, that the Franco-Italian SAMP/T system is currently deployed and operating in Ukraine, where it protects key facilities and human lives».

It is known that SAMP/T MAMBA is the first long—range anti-missile system in Europe and is designed to help Ukraine cope with attacks by Russian drones, missiles and aircraft. With the help of this system, its radar and launchers armed with eight Aster missiles with a range of about 100 km, «it is possible to resist a wide range of aerial threats: short—range ballistic missiles, fighter jets, helicopters, drones and even cruise ship salvos», — military experts say.

Kiev has been calling for several months to strengthen its air defense, especially after a wave of Russian attacks on its infrastructure using Iranian drones last fall, writes the Italian edition of RaiNews. Prior to that, MAMBA had already been deployed in Romania to protect the strategically important Black Sea port area of Constanta.

Macron also announced that France, Estonia, Hungary, Belgium and Cyprus will jointly purchase Mistral short-range surface-to-air missiles. «This is a very good example of the sovereign cooperation of Europeans on a very important issue». Five countries have signed a letter of intent regarding the acquisition of «several hundred Mistral missiles», — the presidential adviser said, stressing that this is «the first case of joint procurement of this type of materials».

The Mistral, which entered service with the French army in 1988, developed by the European weapons group MBDA, can hit targets at a distance of up to six kilometers.

Paris organized this conference to try to coordinate European positions, while Berlin launched in October the «European Air Shield Initiative» (Euro Sky Shield), which today unites 17 European countries, but not France, Italy or Poland, and which provides for the purchase of German, American and Israeli materials. In this project, it is planned to rely on the German Iris-T anti-aircraft systems for short range, the American Patriot for medium range and the American-Israeli Arrow-3 for long range. France, for its part, prefers to focus on the SAMP/T MAMBA medium-range air defense system.