#german-air-defense

#german-air-defense

Austria's Defense Ministry stated, 'There have indeed been requests and they were refused from the outset.' The refusal is based on the country's neutrality policy, which has been in effect since 1955.

NATO is sending another Patriot missile defence unit to its Incirlik Air Base, after several ballistic missiles Ankara says were fired by Iran were downed heading towards or in Turkish airspace. The ministry announced the new missile battery during a Wednesday briefing at the Incirlik base, located near the southern city of Adana, saying it would complement national-level measures to ensure the security of our airspace and our citizens.

"To accelerate current weapons development timelines, DARPA is considering an alternative development paradigm to increase the nation's magazine depth and breadth."

Britain is to develop new air defence weapons alongside the EU's four biggest military powers, deepening ties with the European defence sector. The project will invite manufacturers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Poland to submit plans to build low-cost missiles and autonomous drones. The allies are pledging a speedy process to build the weapons together, inspired by Ukraine's development of cheap drones to counter attacks from Russia.

Five European nations France, Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy (the E5 nations) have launched a new programme to develop low-cost air defence systems and autonomous drones. Announced on Friday, the initiative leverages Ukrainian expertise from four years of war against Russia, forming part of wider European efforts to bolster border security, including a proposed "drone wall" to detect and intercept drones violating airspace. Both Moscow and Kyiv possess advanced drone warfare capabilities, with battlefield innovations from the conflict reshaping modern tactics.

France has offered to 'extend' its nuclear umbrella to other European countries without actually 'sharing' it. How can that work, asks John Lichfield. This will be the subject of a speech by President Emmanuel Macron in the next two weeks which could be one of the most important speeches in European history. Or a damp squib. Macron has promised to update France's nuclear doctrine. In other words, he will revisit the rules which have governed use of France's force de frappe or nuclear deterrent

ŠIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania - A Spanish fighter wing deployed to the Baltics for air patrol missions alongside anti-drone defenses for the first time, a reaction to growing uncrewed threats to European infrastructure. Spain's 15th Wing arrived at Šiauliai Air Base in December to begin a four-month rotation contributing to NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, designed to protect the airspace around Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The Crow counter-drone system came with it.

At the beginning of the year, German men aged 18 began to receive a compulsory questionnaire registering their fitness for army service under a law passed last month. Joining the army is voluntary for now, but the law allows the government to introduce mandatory service to meet its goal of building what it says will be the strongest army in Europe for the first time since World War II.

Keir Starmer said there was an urgent need for a closer UK defence relationship with Europe, covering procurement and manufacturing, so that the UK is at the centre of a stronger European defence setup. In a rare visit to the Munich Security Conference, the British prime minister told the audience, to applause, we are 10 years on from Brexit. We are not the Britain of the Brexit years.

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is currently on a spending spree: it has more than 108 billion ($129 billion) at its disposal this year a gigantic, unprecedented sum. This is being financed both by the official federal budget and special funds, for which the state is taking out loans. This money is intended to make the Bundeswehr, which has been subject to decades of cutbacks, more powerful and modern. There is also time pressure.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that he was in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about nuclear deterrence, as worries grow about US security commitments to Europe. "I have held confidential talks with the French president about European nuclear deterrence," Merz said at the opening of the Munich Security Conference. He previously said he was open to France extending its nuclear deterrent in Europe.

I still like European defence as a theme. The rearmament story is yet to really even begin and whilst we have seen a material rerating in several large defence names on the continent and in the UK, a selloff in the autumn on some fuzzy 'Ukraine peace deal hope' trade is overdone and fails to capture the long-term value in the sector.

Merz said Berlin also wants a closer security partnership with New Delhi, including deeper "cooperation between our defence industries" to cut India's traditional dependence on Russia for military hardware. Merz began his two-day India visit -- his first to Asia since taking office in May -- two weeks ahead of an EU-India summit and as India and the European bloc are working on a free trade agreement.