Work is continuing with Türkiye and Italy regarding the possible export of the SAMP-T air defense system, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.
"We have work underway on a Franco-Italian basis, along with Turkey, which is technical work and which is continuing," said Macron at the NATO summit in Ankara.
His remarks followed reports suggesting France is willing to consider a possible sale of SAMP-T to Türkiye following years of opposition, clearing the way for more substantive talks with Ankara.
The shift in position followed talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a summit on June 25.
Earlier on Wednesday, Macron met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for talks on bilateral ties and regional and global developments, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said.
After the meeting, Macron said he was "very satisfied" with the talks that he said ranged from defense and bilateral ties to Ukraine and the Middle East.
Erdoğan said the time had come for Türkiye and France to raise their mutual trade targets, adding that Ankara would continue efforts to advance cooperation "in every field," the statement said.
Erdoğan also stressed the importance of strengthening NATO's European pillar to preserve the "Transatlantic Bond" among allies, saying this could be achieved "without eroding our alliance ties and without causing unnecessary duplication."
He added that Türkiye would support the EU's defense initiatives on the basis of those principles.
Last week, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said Türkiye was "evaluating all options" to boost its air defenses, including the potential purchase of Patriot systems from Washington or SAMP-T systems.
Güler said Ankara remained open to cooperation involving technology transfer and joint production. Technical and political talks with the relevant countries are taking place "from time to time," he added.
Türkiye, France and Italy launched cooperation on a possible long-range air-defense program in 2017 to 2018, including studies into co-development and co-production.
However, the project stalled as ties between Ankara and Paris deteriorated over Syria, Libya and disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean involving Greece and Greek Cyprus.
The SAMP-T, also known as Mamba, is produced by the Franco-Italian Eurosam consortium, bringing together MBDA France, MBDA Italy and Thales.
The system can track dozens of targets simultaneously, intercept multiple threats at once and is the only European-made system that claims to be able to intercept ballistic missiles.
Often described as Europe's closest counterpart to the U.S. Patriot system, it divides analysts on its efficiency, who point to its lack of combat use over the years.
Türkiye has NATO's second-largest army and has for years been ramping up investments as it seeks to have its own fully fledged missile defenses. It is meanwhile producing components for its integrated, multilayered "Steel Dome" air defense system.
Beyond Paris and Rome, the SAMP-T has only been exported to Singapore, although it has been transferred to Ukraine in recent years and France deployed it to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) defend itself against Iranian missile attacks this year.
Italy sent the system to Türkiye in mid-June as part of NATO defense planning.
Any deal would likely center around the new generation of the system, which is being rolled out to the French and Italian militaries.
While Italy has long been in favor of sharing the SAMP-T with Türkiye to deepen defense industry cooperation, Turkish officials have for years privately and publicly regarded France as the principal political obstacle to the program.
Momentum has returned over the past year as Ankara has intensified efforts to strengthen its missile defense capabilities amid regional instability and NATO allies have reassessed defense cooperation and capability needs.
