Berlin’s anti-missile defense program infuriated Paris

It is one of the main points of contention between Paris and Berlin since the start of the war in Ukraine. Four months after Germany’s announcement in October 2022, of a European anti-missile shield program, or European Sky Shield (ESSI), which now unites fifteen countries in the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), the Berlin initiative revives an old NATO ambition, the French vision of Europe’s strategic independence. Challenges and disrupts the interests of a limited number of industrialists.

The ESSI project is only at the “letter of intent” stage, which Paris says is still far from implementation. But many of the signatory states, typically located in eastern Europe, are eager to move quickly and worried about the potential spillover of the Ukrainian conflict onto their soil. This is the case with countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Romania and Finland. On February 15, two other countries joined the program: Sweden and Denmark, the latter usually more wary of alliance missile defense issues.

Poland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France have withdrawn from the ESSI programme. Mamba, because they already have anti-missile defenses – NATO bases in Madrid and Warsaw – or, like Italy and France, they have been developing their own system for years. For France, the German initiative covers key industrial and technological competition issues.

“Multilayered” bubble

This anti-missile shield aims to achieve economies of scale through joint procurement of existing and complete surface-to-air defense systems. The German Iris-D system, manufactured by Dell PGT Defense, has a range of about thirty kilometers, the Patriot system, manufactured by American Raytheon, to provide protection up to 200 kilometers, and the Arrow 3, designed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), to destroy ICBMs, with a radius of 2,400 kilometers around it. Also designed to ensure bubbling. Totality is perceived in Paris as a major breach of the idea of ​​”European sovereignty” so dearly defended by Emmanuel Macron.

However, ESSI responds well to a shortcoming long identified by US-dominated NATO’s central authorities, with anti-missile defense as a key axis. These three systems should form a “multi-layered” bubble To protect against possible missile attacks and some drones or helicopters.

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