Turkiye and Greece will join the European Sky Shield Initiative, Pistorius told reporters ahead of a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels. “With the participation of the two countries, the number of countries in the initiative will reach 21,” Boris Pistorius said.
The Berlin government’s effort to strengthen Europe’s air defenses was first announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a speech in Prague in August 2022.
France had decided not to participate
This program, which involves countries jointly procuring air and missile defense systems, was introduced to increase cost efficiency and flexibility. However, this step angered France. Germany, the country leading the initiative, has favored US and Israeli-made systems over those developed in Europe. France therefore decided not to participate in the initiative.
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Pistorius also told reporters that he will sign a purchase agreement with his Slovenian counterpart for the IRIS-T SLM air defense system. The Sky Shield initiative has been criticized in the past, especially by France and Italy, for relying too heavily on non-European components and excluding the Franco-Italian SAMP-T system. The initiative will rely primarily on the German-made IRIS-T system for short and medium ranges, while American and Israeli systems will be used for long-range air defense.
German officials specifically cited Raytheon’s Patriot system and the Arrow 3 system developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) as key components of the Sky Shield system.
Macron warned against relying on non-European systems and that a missile defense initiative similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome” would not work for the entire European continent.
