The Italian Ministry of Defence and the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency have stepped up their cooperation on the development of Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD).
At the end of September, the Ministry and the Agency signed an agreement, which will ensure interoperability between Italian BMD capabilities and NATO BMD.
This agreement will deepen the partnership between the Ministry and the Agency's Ballistic Missile Defence Programme Office and Services (BMD PO&S), mainly through information exchange and testing.
It also states that the integration of the Italian systems will initially cover the Surface to Air Missile Platform/Terrain (SAMP/T) block I weapon system, the TPS77 - Early Warning radar capability to be integrated into Air Command and Control System (ACCS) and the HORIZON Class Ship.
BMD is one of the most important programme's for NATO collective defence as confirmed by Heads of State and Government during the last NATO Summit in Warsaw.
National contributions therefore are vital to support the overall NATO BMD capability and the contribution from Italy is very much welcomed.
The agreement was signed by the Italian Defence Secretary General and National Armaments Director, Lieutenant General Carlo Magrassi, and the NCI Agency General Manager, Koen Gijsbers.