Germany and 14 other countries want to work together to close gaps in European air and missile defense over the next few years.

The defense ministers of the participating countries signed a letter of intent for the so-called European Skyshield Initiative (ESSI) on Thursday morning in Brussels.

The German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) spoke of a "win-win situation" for the participating countries.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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It's about being interoperable, getting better prices when purchasing and supporting each other with maintenance, according to Lambrecht.

It is known that other countries are also very interested and are already in negotiations to procure three systems: Iris-T SLM, developed in Germany, the American Patriot system and the Arrow 3 system from Israel.

"These are threatening, these are challenging times and we must accept the responsibility we have to close such gaps," Lambrecht said.

The signing ceremony was attended by representatives from Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Norway and the United Kingdom.

According to diplomats, Estonia also wants to take part.

Scholz: A gain in security for all of Europe

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced the establishment of a European air defense system at the end of August in his Prague Europe speech.

Such a system "would not only be cheaper and more efficient than if each of us built our own, expensive and highly complex air defense system," said Scholz at the time.

"It would be a security gain for all of Europe - and an excellent example of what we mean when we talk about 'strengthening the European pillar of NATO'." Ideally, this should happen by 2025, as has been heard.

Integrated air and missile defense is under the command of NATO's Commander-in-Chief for Europe.

This includes the alarm squads of interceptors, but also various defense systems against drones, helicopters, airplanes, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles of different ranges.

However, the system has gaps at all levels.

This is especially true now that NATO is realigning itself against the threat from Russia.

While Iris-T SLM, which has just been delivered to Ukraine, provides protection within a radius of 40 kilometers, Patriot in its modern variants covers a slightly larger area and is also capable of combating intermediate-range missile warheads in the final phase of flight.

In contrast, Arrow-3 is designed to intercept medium and long-range missiles in space.

The guided missile developed by Israel can engage targets at a distance of up to 2,400 kilometers and at an altitude of up to 100 kilometers.

This is particularly important for defense against nuclear strikes.

On Thursday, Lambrecht did not want to commit to how much money Germany is willing to invest.

She only pointed out that funds from the special fund of 100 billion euros, which was created after Russia's attack on Ukraine, could be used for this purpose.

Germany intends to purchase Iris-T SLM, new Patriot missiles and Arrow-3.

The more radars and effectors placed in Europe, the more effective the Israeli system would be.

However, Israel cannot sell the system until the United States, which essentially funded the development, agrees.

On the fringes of the NATO defense ministers' meeting, Lambrecht wanted to urge her colleague Lloyd Austin for a speedy release.