2023-06-14 22:25:00
After several decades of underinvestment in its defence, Germany has acted, through the voice of its Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a “change of time” After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Social Democratic leader has thus set up a fund of 100 billion euros for the German army.
A new step was taken on Wednesday. The Bundestag Budget Committee has approved a first tranche of funding for Berlin to acquirean Israeli missile protection system which could make a decisive contribution to the project of “European Sky Shield”. This initiative by Olaf Scholz already unites several countries on the continent, but not France because its own system is already part of NATO’s integrated commandthrough a system of MAMBA medium-range surface-to-air defense developed with Italy.
This Israeli Arrow 3 anti-missile system, costing a total of four billion euros, is equipped with radars, launchers and guided missiles capable of destroying targets beyond the atmosphere. The envelope released on Wednesday concerns 560 million euros for a future pre-contractual agreement with Israel.
Russia, “biggest threat to peace and security”
The German government “intends to set up the national territorial missile defense capability as quickly as possible with the planned acquisition of the Arrow weapon system”, stresses the Ministry of Finance in a document intended for the commission budget, of which AFP was aware. In his “national security strategy”, a document unveiled on Wednesday, unsurprisingly, Russia is for Berlin the “greatest threat to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area in the foreseeable future”.
The Israeli system must “contribute to the protection of Germany, the population and critical infrastructure against ballistic missiles”, according to this document. This could be delivered at the end of 2025, according to the courier, stressing that “in total, the budgetary needs for the acquisition of the Arrow weapon system are estimated at 3.99 billion euros in the current state of knowledge. “.
A collaboration between Israel Aerospace Industries and Boeing
The Arrow system is developed and manufactured by the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) company in collaboration with the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Arrow 3 has been in use at Israeli airbases since 2017. The system is designed for long-range missile defense. With “Iron Dome”, Israel protects itself against attacks from Iran or Syria.
According to the Israeli manufacturer IAI, the system is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles above the atmosphere, fired at a distance of up to 2,400 km. It is considered to be strong enough to also provide protection to countries neighboring the EU if it were to be installed in Germany.
Arrow missiles have a significantly greater range than the Patriot air defense system and the IRIS-T system used so far in Germany. The budget committee has also approved around 950 million euros for the purchase of six additional German-made Iris T SLM air defense systems.
#Germany #releases #funds #acquire #Israeli #missile #shield