The European Missile Shield Initiative (ESSI), proposed by Germany, currently brings together 19 countries. Although this group is open to new candidates, the Polish government once decided to build anti-missile and anti-aircraft capabilities on its own, which sparked critical comments from some opposition politicians. What is ESSI and how does it differ from the Polish Shield?
ESSI (European Sky Shield Initiative) is an initiative proposed by Germany in 2022, the aim of which is to jointly build anti-aircraft and anti-missile capabilities by European countries.
This initiative seems to be a political response to the experience from Ukraine – it appeared immediately after the period of very intense Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. It is also an attempt to make it possible quickly rebuild European capabilities in the field of air defense.
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These capabilities have been seriously neglected in most countries on the Old Continent over recent decades. The opinions of experts, such as the military commentator Jarosław Wolski, are clear proof of this. According to them, before the Russian attack, Ukraine had the strongest, although not the most modern, anti-aircraft defense in Europe.
At the time of its announcement, 15 countries joined ESSI: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the United Kingdom. In the following months, their list increased to include Denmark, Sweden, and – neutral – Austria and Switzerland.
It gives it a total of 19 European countries. What is significant here is the absence of such large countries as France, Spain or Italy.
Shield of Poland and ESSI are not mutually exclusive
Poland’s lack of participation became the axis of a political dispute. Result elections made an impact on the further development of the Polish Shield and our possible participation in ESSI (one does not exclude the other) politicians who have so far criticized the lack of Polish involvement in the international initiative have gained.
An attempt to summarize the votes on this matter undertaken by Defence24. The analysis of public statements clearly indicates that a change in Poland’s position on ESSI is possible with the post-election change of the ruling team.
The key goal of ESSI is not currently the creation of a supra-national air defense system (because such a system has already existed within NATO for a long time), but standardization of equipment and coordination of purchases. These are actions that allow – thanks to the scale effect – to reduce the unit price of various systems or missiles, as well as the cost of their operation and servicing.
This is combined with the economic interests of various countries producing – such as Germany (IRIS-T SLM) or Great Britain (CAMM) – the most modern anti-aircraft systems in their class in the world.
It is worth noting in this context that, for example, the Narew program assumes license production of CAMM family missiles by the Polish industry and joint work by Poland and Great Britain on a new CAMM-MR missile with a range of 100 km.
The European Shield is not an alternative to national modernization programs carried out independently by the participating countries.
An example are the Scandinavian countries, whose participation in ESSI does not prevent them from strengthening their anti-aircraft defense on their own. However, their presence in an international body allows them to participate in decisions that affect the defense of the entire continent.
Polish Shield and RSSI – key differences
At the same time, it is worth emphasizing – which often seems to get lost in the heat of political debate – that ESSI and Polish Shield are not different versions of the same concept of building multi-layer anti-aircraft defense. This is due to the fact that the three layers of ESSI are not identical to the three layers of the Polish Shield, and each of the initiatives otherwise indicates key threats.
ESSI includes layers that can conventionally be called short- and medium-range systems and ballistic defense – decisions regarding very short-range systems (VSHORAD) are left to the authorities of individual countries.
The Polish Shield includes very short, short and medium-range systems – acquired under the Pilica (and other), Narew and Wisła programs, respectively – without the top layer. For it to make sense in our conditions, it is crucial to first build capacity in the lower layers.
Geography is also important here. A country far from the potential battle line prioritizes threats differently than a frontline country (like Poland).
Air defense excluded from political dispute?
The worst that can happen to Polish anti-aircraft defense is the politicization of the dispute about its shape, financing and development directions. The war in Ukraine has clearly shown that modern, effective anti-aircraft systems – although they do not look as impressive at military parades as tanks, artillery or planes – are a condition for the survival of both the armed forces and the infrastructure critical for the functioning of the country.
Although the situation of Ukraine, whose air force was almost completely destroyed, is different from the likely situation of a NATO member state defending itself against an attack, the experience of our eastern neighbor, pointing to the enormous the role of air defense, they are invaluable.
Modern anti-aircraft defense does not guarantee Poland or any other country victory in the war. However, its absence – especially in a situation where own or allied air superiority would be somehow undermined – is a guarantee of defeat.
Łukasz Michalik, journalist of Wirtualna Polska
2023-11-10 15:20:32
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