Last year, against the background of the war in Ukraine, Germany initiated a project to protect Europe from ballistic missiles. The initiative was named Sky Shield. Switzerland plans to join it.
What is known
Sky Shield is a project of a pan-European missile defense system, which, in addition to Germany, has been joined by almost two dozen states. These include the UK, Sweden and Finland. Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that it will be possible to create a pan-European missile defense system in 5 years.
Rumors that Switzerland could join the Sky Shield have raised concerns among supporters of neutrality. They believe that such a move would make the country dependent on NATO and potentially put it in harm’s way.
All states have the right to choose which anti-aircraft missile systems to use. For example, Germany will use domestic medium-range IRIS-T SLM systems, American MIM-104 Patriot and Israeli Arrow-3. The purchase of Arrow-3 will cost approximately $4.3 billion.
France has not yet joined the Sky Shield. Emmanuel Macron is not happy that the project relies on non-European air defense systems and leaves out the Franco-Italian SAMP / T complex, which is an analogue of Patriot. In addition, the French president believes that more attention should be paid not to missile defense, but to the development of long-range weapons.
Source: Reuters
#Switzerland #join #multibillion #dollar #Sky #Shield #initiative #protect #Europe #ballistic #missiles
2023-07-07 07:34:16
