L’European Sky Shield Initiative (They) is a project to build an integrated European air defense system. It was launched by Germany in August 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is based on the need to strengthen air defense in Europe and to best pool efforts. Iran’s attack on Israel and the retaliation in the last few hours has brought the debate on the opportunity of a European air shield back to the fore.
The ESSI aims to better coordinate, and possibly pool, air defense procurement projects in Europe in order to exploit economies of scale when purchasing systems and improve interoperability between partner countries. This also makes cooperation in education, system maintenance and logistics possible. At present 21 states have signed up. Among these is the United Kingdom. The main programs concern the purchase of Patriot GEM-T and IRIS-T SLM missile systems.
Berlin: European air shield project remains open to Italy and France
In the last few hours, a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense recalled that «Essi is a cooperation initiative for the purchase and use of air defense systems to which many countries have already joined, including Austria and Switzerland. Of course – he added -, also our French and Italian partners are free to join this initiative.”
The failure to use the Franco-Italian Samp/T missile system is under scrutiny
In fact, for now, neither Italy nor France have joined the Essi. In particular, Paris complained regarding the failure to use the Franco-Italian Samp/T missile system in the Essi and, in general, the initiative’s use of systems not of European production. However, Berlin does not rule out the possibility that there might be different scenarios in the future. «We are in continuous dialogue with our partners and friends on the ESSI, which remains open to the participation of other states», reiterated the spokesperson of the German Ministry of Defense, underlining that the decision on the systems concerned «those we already had in use and which we believed worked correctly, like the Patriots, which have been used since the 1980s and which also represent an advantageous solution from an economic point of view.”
The Arrow long-range system
Germany, meanwhile, has purchased the Israeli-produced long-range Arrow system. «In July 2023, the German Bundestag approved the first budget funds for the purchase of the Arrow system. In November we managed to sign the procurement contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defense. This is a system already successfully tested by Israel”, the spokesperson further explained, confirming that, despite the current geopolitical situation, “the initial capacity of the Arrow weapon system will be reached by 2025, availability is not possible operational early due to industry lead times.”
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2024-04-19 21:19:34
