Start News Air Eurosam and OCCAR sign contract amendment to ramp up Aster missile production

Aster 30 (Eurosam) — The launch of an Aster 30 missile. Short- to medium-range Aster 15 missiles and short- to long-range Aster 30 missiles are the cornerstone of Europe’s naval and land-based air and missile defence programmes. (Photo: Eurosam)

Eurosam and OCCAR sign contract amendment to ramp up Aster missile production

Peter Felstead

18. March 2025

The production of Aster missiles for France, Italy and the UK under the Future Family of Surface-to-Air Missiles – Principal Anti-Air Missile Systems (FSAF-PAAMS) programme has been accelerated.

The ramp-up was signalled by the signing of the 15^th Amendment to the FSAF-PAAMS sustainment and enhancement contract in Paris on 11 March 2025 by Joachim Sucker, director of the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation’s Executive Administration (OCCAR-EA) – on behalf of France, Italy and the UK – and Eurosam Managing Director Anne Diaz De Tuesta.

The new contract amendment covers the production of a new batch of Aster 30 B1 ground- and ship-launched missiles and Aster 15 ship-launched missiles. It focuses on improving the European production capabilities for Aster missiles in order to accelerate and increase production for the ground and naval air defence systems employed by the three nations’ armed forces (the French Air and Space Force, the Italian Air Force and Italian Army, and the French, Italian and British navies).

According to the UK’s Defence Equipment and Support organisation (DE&S), the new batch covers 218 missiles for the three nations.

Following this contractual change Eurosam and European missile house MBDA (which along with Thales is a Eurosam shareholder) will enable OCCAR-EA to deliver the variants of the Aster family (the Aster 15 Aster 30) to the nations over a shorter timeframe.

“OCCAR-EA and Eurosam are proud to have placed this new contract amendment, having worked closely with the national entities in charge of defence equipment procurement [the Italian Segretariato Generale della Difesa, the French Direction générale de l’armement and the UK’s DE&S],” Eurosam stated in a press release. “This amendment is a further catalyst that promotes and reinforces the existing co-operation amongst the three nations supported by OCCAR-EA.”

Eurosam further stated that it, MBDA, Thales and OCCAR-EA “will therefore continue to lead the way to provide upgraded air-defence systems to face increasingly more challenging threats for the benefit of the French and Italian air forces, Italian Army and the three navies”.

OCCAR-EA is also in charge of procurement of the new generation of FSAF-PAAMS ground and naval air defence systems, such as SAMP/T NG and PAAMS NG.