Air defense is the Achilles heel of the European Union

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, newspaper ” In an article, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung discussed the weakness of air defense in Europe and wrote: “Lithuanians are afraid of this situation and believe that Europe should protect its airspace properly.

Vrinas Kasionas, the Minister of Defense of Lithuania, calls for a review in this regard. He, who has assumed this responsibility in his country since the middle of March, as a guest at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC, referred NATO to his conscience and demanded to close the air defense leak of the NATO defense alliance. He mentioned Vladimir Putin’s supposed will and Russia’s ability to launch a missile attack on NATO. Newsweek quoted him as saying that the coalition’s air defense is its biggest weakness.

The Balkan countries are also afraid of this situation. In fact, scientists give NATO between 5 and 8 years to create the conditions to be able to defend itself against Russia. Fabian Hoffman of the University of Oslo is the biggest pessimist among analysts: the political scientist expects Russia to attack NATO within two to three years after the end of the war in Ukraine. He believes that since Vladimir Putin’s military is conventionally inferior to the West, his only option is a missile attack from the Kaliningrad region against parts of the Baltics. According to Hoffman, NATO should prepare for this scenario. Of course, according to the new defense minister of Lithuania, it seems that this issue has been neglected so far.

Some analysts and other experts have the same opinion. Lydia Vaux of the Berlin Foundation for Science and Policy analyzes that air defense and ground-based missile defense in Europe are currently “grossly inadequate”. In fact, this scientist considers this empty defense as an incentive for Putin to expand his sphere of power politically. According to him, the weakness of the European Union makes it vulnerable to blackmail. It seems that the sense of threat from the Baltic side is justified. With some conventional attacks, Putin can force NATO into a conflict, Vaks said: This issue can be aimed at intimidating the West and destabilizing NATO politically. The threat posed by Russia’s precision weapons is more dangerous than their use against NATO.

According to this analyst, Russia’s military potential is a decisive criterion for NATO’s necessary commitment in “There is a blackmail potential with which Moscow can undermine NATO’s cohesion and create social and political instability.” With the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), parts of NATO want to close their airspace against threats. Vaux said: But this common project has an internal and important enemy, and that is France. In November last year, Thomas Gasilaud, head of the defense committee of the French National Assembly, expressed his doubts about the project to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He considered a goal similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome” to be illusory for Europe.

ESSI is on the agenda at the initiative of Germany. Torben-Arnold and Sven Arnold of the Berlin Foundation for Science and Politics believe that France and Italy are backing out of the project – which means the project has lost two essential pillars. According to these experts, this project has problems on various levels.

Basically, ESSI plans to use the German IRIS-T SLM system (Tail Surface Launched Medium Range Infrared Imaging System). further develop Then the next steps will follow. The German Ministry of Defense has stated: Since the first results must be achieved quickly, the focus will initially be on systems that are already on the market or have already been developed. So, for example, Patriot is the first choice for current purchases. However, according to Turbin and Sven Arnold, France, for example, sees its economic interests foregone as a result of the project. According to these two experts, France and Italy prefer the SAMP/T (Surface-to-Air Missile Platform/Terrain) air defense system that they have produced together.

Poland also initially resisted joining ESSI and wanted to rely only on the American and British systems. As Defense News magazine reports, Poland has recently announced that it wants to come under this protective umbrella. Arnold describes the dilemma of this cooperation based on different national interests and different multinational connections: ESSI is outside the EU and NATO, but it is intended to protect all Europeans and is compatible with NATO systems and procedures. be All this happens in peacetime in Western Europe. Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurinas Kaciunas sees a completely different pressure to make decisions in Ukraine, writes Newsweek. It is obvious to him that time is running out especially for the Baltic States. He also sees the fate of his people intertwined with the outcome of the war in Ukraine.

Lydia Vaux of the Berlin Institute of Science and Politics writes: “A similar solution for defense in Compared to Russia’s various long-range weapons, it is an illusion. He calls for an “integrated air defense architecture”, that is, a developed strategic mix of various means of action that creates security on land, at sea, in the air, as well as in cyberspace and space.

According to the scientists of the Berlin Institute of Science and Politics, this will also be the right path. Torben and Sven Arnold complain to the institute that neither the Patriot nor the Arrow-3 were made in Europe and are too expensive, so the air defense shield would strengthen European security while undermining its industrial base. Arnold emphasized: Therefore, the choice of systems is very important and will have long-term consequences for Europe’s industrial and technological defense base. According to him, here the issue of maintaining or reducing jobs and skills as well as more or less dependencies in important and key fields is also raised.

end of message/