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Reasons behind Italy's interest in Turkish drones

According to a Turkish source, Meloni's primary interest in acquiring drones was for surveillance purposes in order to combat illegal immigration. The source said that Erdoğan reportedly requested Italian cooperation in the joint production of the SAMP/T air defense system in exchange for the Turkish drones.

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According to the Italian military's multi-year program document for 2022-24, no new drone purchases are mentioned, and the document only references the MQ-9 Reaper and Predator drones that have been purchased from the US. Rome plans to upgrade these drones with new payloads and systems.