What is the European air shield: German project open to Italy and France
The European Sky Shield Initiative (Essi), launched by Germany in 2022, aims to better coordinate, and possibly merge, air defence procurement projects in Europe in order to exploit economies of scale when purchasing systems and improve interoperability between partner countries
by Andrea Carli
4' min read
Key points
4' min read
The European Sky Shield Initiative (Essi) is a project to build an integrated European air defence system. It was launched by Germany in August 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is based on the need to strengthen air defence in Europe and to best combine efforts. Iran's attack on Israel and the retaliation of the last few hours brought the debate on the advisability of a European air shield back to the forefront.
They aim to better coordinate, and possibly merge, air defence procurement projects in Europe in order to exploit economies of scale when purchasing systems and to improve interoperability between partner countries. This also makes cooperation in education, system maintenance and logistics possible. To date, 21 states have joined. Among them is the United Kingdom. The main programmes concern the procurement of Patriot GEM-T and IRIS-T SLM missile systems.
Berlin: European air shield project remains open to Italy and France
In the last few hours, a spokesman for the German Defence Ministry recalled that 'the Essi is a cooperation initiative for the purchase and use of air defence systems that many countries, including Austria and Switzerland, have already joined. Of course, our French and Italian partners are also free to join this initiative,' he added.
Failure to deploy the Franco-Italian Samp/T missile system
In fact, neither Italy nor France have joined the Essi so far. In particular, Paris has complained about the non-use of the Franco-Italian Samp/T missile system in the Essi and, in general, the initiative's use of non-European systems. From Berlin, however, they do not rule out different scenarios in the future. "We are in continuous dialogue with our partners and friends on the Essi, which remains open to the participation of other states," the German Defence Ministry spokesman reiterated, emphasising that the decision on the systems concerned "those we already had in use and which we considered to be working properly, such as the Patriots, which have been in use since the 1980s and which also represent an economically advantageous solution."
The Arrow long-range system
.Germany, meanwhile, purchased the Israeli-made Arrow long-range system. "In July 2023, the German Bundestag approved the first budgetary funds for the purchase of the Arrow system. In November, we were able to sign the procurement contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence. This is a system that has already been successfully tested by Israel,' the spokesperson further explained, confirming that despite the current geopolitical situation, 'the initial capability of the Arrow weapon system will be reached by 2025, an earlier operational readiness is not possible due to the industry's delivery timeframe'.
