“The war in Ukraine demonstrates the importance of having a modern air defence system to protect the civilian population and infrastructure. Sweden will contribute new capabilities, with our air force, our air defence system and with our sensors like the Global Eye. On land, at sea and in the air, we have a solid understanding of status in our neighbourhood,” underlined Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson.
The European Sky Shield Initiative is the pan-European air and missile defence project led by Germany. In October 2022, 14 NATO allies (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, the United Kingdom) and Finland signed a letter of intent for the joint procurement of air defence systems. This joint defence project was earlier announced at the end of August 2022 by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his speech in Prague on the future of Europe.
The participating nations are to jointly acquire of air defence equipment and missiles in a cost-effective way. The systems acquired will be interoperable with the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS). The German defence minister Christine Lambrecht listed the possible components of the project: these are the Israeli Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile defence system, the US PATRIOT and the German IRIS-T SLM air defence systems.
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