French SAMP/T NG Air Defense System Test Success Sparks Ukraine Deployment Talks for 2026.

France has completed the first live-fire test of the next-generation SAMP/T NG air defense system, validating its new engagement module and Ground Fire radar. With deliveries set for 2026, the system could reshape European air defense and may eventually bolster Ukraine’s layered protection against missiles and drones.

On December 22, 2025, Thales reported the first test firing of the French SAMP/T NG configuration at the DGA Essais de Missiles range in Biscarrosse, with DGA imagery released alongside the announcement. Thales says the shot validated the pairing of a modernised engagement module and its Ground Fire radar, and stresses that first deliveries to France and Italy are scheduled for 2026. In a pointed line aimed at procurement audiences, Thales also presents SAMP/T NG as the only European alternative for medium- and long-range protection against threats that include ballistic, manoeuvring, and saturating attacks, with commissioning planned in 2026, as Thales executive Raphael Desi underscored. French President Emmanuel Macron’s view is that the system should be deployed first in Ukraine, a claim repeated by the French Aid to Ukraine account on X.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

SAMP/T NG is a mobile long-range air and missile defense system using Ground Fire 360-degree AESA radar and Aster 30 interceptors to engage aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, and tactical ballistic missiles while staying networked and survivable through rapid relocation (Picture source: Thales).

SAMP/T NG is a road-mobile battery meant to protect a city-sized footprint or a high-value base while staying agile enough to displace after firing. The land package is centered on a digital engagement module that fuses tracks, assigns weapons, and manages the fire unit either in standalone mode or inside a coordinated network. In its typical configuration, the battery controls up to six vertical launchers, each carrying eight ready-to-fire Aster 30 family interceptors, which gives a single firing unit real first-salvo depth during a raid rather than forcing an immediate reload cycle.

The Ground Fire radar is the biggest leap in the French variant and a key reason SAMP/T NG is being marketed as a generational change, not an incremental patch. Thales says the fully digital AESA sensor delivers 360-degree coverage, 90-degree elevation, and up to 400 km surveillance range, refreshed every second. That mix is built for low drones in clutter, fast jets using terrain masking, and ballistic targets that appear at steep angles and demand fast track stability. Ground Fire has been in series production since early 2025, moving the sensor from trials into sustained output.

Interception is delivered by the Aster missile family, and the NG roadmap is tied to the Block 1 New Technology round. MBDA describes a vertically launched, boosted missile guided by inertial navigation with mid-course updates before switching to an active seeker in the terminal phase, while its PIF-PAF control system combines aerodynamic surfaces and lateral thrusters for extreme agility in the endgame. Eurosam has stated that SAMP/T NG is designed for 360-degree theatre protection and engagements beyond 150 km, with an anti-tactical ballistic missile role built into the design rather than bolted on.

The programme is managed through OCCAR, and its timeline explains why 2026 keeps surfacing in official messaging. In March 2021, OCCAR signed the development and qualification contract with Eurosam, explicitly citing future cruise missiles and tactical ballistic threats in a jammed environment. A February 2023 production contract then locked in the dual-radar approach, Ground Fire 300 for France and Leonardo’s Kronos GM HP for Italy. The December 2025 firings, Italy on December 3 and France on December 15, were framed as the last major integration step before 2026 fielding.

Ukraine’s likely employment concept is layered defence, not trench-line coverage. A SAMP/T NG battery can sit deep enough to survive ground fires yet still reach out to defend airbases, command nodes, and energy infrastructure, especially against cruise missiles and stand-off glide weapons launched from outside Ukrainian airspace. The wide-area Ground Fire picture can also feed Ukraine’s national air defence network, improving cueing for fighters and for shorter-range systems. Mobility will matter: after each engagement, the battery can relocate to reduce exposure to anti-radiation missiles and to complicate Russian reconnaissance patterns.

Against Western competitors, the closest peer is Patriot. Patriot is combat-proven and deeply supported, but its legacy radar architecture has historically imposed a sector view, whereas SAMP/T NG is being fielded with 360-degree coverage as a baseline. Compared with NASAMS and IRIS-T SLM, the Franco-Italian system brings a heavier ballistic mission and a broader defended footprint, at the cost of higher unit value and tighter missile logistics. If France’s 2026 delivery schedule holds, and if Macron’s intent to prioritise Ukraine translates into contracts and production slots, Kyiv could plausibly field SAMP/T NG in combat that year, potentially making it the most capable European-built layer in Ukraine’s air defense stack.