In order to jointly acquire air defence systems that shield allied territory from missiles, Germany and more than a dozen NATO allies have their sights set on the Israeli Arrow 3 system, the US Patriot, and German IRIS-T units, among other options.
“With this initiative, we are living up to our joint responsibility for security in Europe – by bundling our resources,” Christine Lambrecht, Germany’s defence minister, said during a ceremony at NATO’s Brussels headquarters where 14 countries signed a letter of intent.
Estonia wasn’t present at the event but will also be part of the initiative, dubbed “European Sky Shield”. In total it comprises half of NATO’s members – including Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Norway, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, and Slovenia.
Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon’s Patriot units or the more recently developed IRIS-T are in short supply in many Western nations, which were reluctant to invest too much money in military capabilities after the end of the Cold War.