Four European countries from the Atlantic Alliance - Germany, France, Italy and Poland - agreed during the summit held in Washington on a cooperation plan for the development and production of long-range missiles.
The memorandum of understanding, signed on Thursday by the defense ministers of the four countries, on the final day of the NATO summit that marked the organization's 75th anniversary, paves the way for cooperation with the aim of strengthening the military capabilities of each of the countries. nations, but also of the "European industrial and defense base", in light of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, indicated the Member States involved.
The letter of intent surrounding the so-called ELSA plan (acronym for European Long-Range Attack Approach) establishes a long-term strategy to improve European arsenals and strengthen their deterrence capacity.
It envisages the production of cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometers, but the details will only be known at the end of the year with the publication of a first draft document with specifications.
The strategy now brings together Berlin, Paris, Rome and Warsaw, but has an "inclusive approach, in the sense that other partners are invited to participate", explained French Defense Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, admitting that the United Kingdom, now led by a Labor government headed by Keir Starmer, will soon join the initiative.
This cooperation plan was signed on the sidelines of the NATO summit held this week in Washington, one day after the United States announced that it will install long-range military equipment on German territory in 2026 to demonstrate Washington's commitment to the Atlantic Alliance to "European integrated deterrence".
"These long-range conventional units will include [missiles] SM-6, Tomahawk and developed hypersonic weapons, which have a significantly greater range than current land-based materials in Europe", indicated the United States and Germany in a joint statement sent by the White House.
The Kremlin was quick to react to this announcement, condemning the US decision to install long-range missiles in Germany, denouncing a return to "the Cold War", in the midst of an armed conflict in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the United States and four European countries - the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Romania - had already announced that they will send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, after the latest wave of Russian attacks that killed almost 40 people. and 170 injured.
No comments:
Post a Comment