After Austria announced its willingness to join the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) more than a year ago, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner today signed a declaration of accession together with Germany in Brussels.
At the forefront of the initiative, which was founded in August 2022, which Switzerland recently officially joinedfocuses on cooperation and coordination of procurement projects, training and logistical aspects in the field of ground-based air defense at a European level.
Austria has joined the Sky Shield air defense initiative. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner signed a corresponding declaration with Germany in Brussels. Together with Austria, 21 European countries are currently participating in the initiative. #Bundesheer
– Michael Bauer (@Bundesheerbauer) May 28, 2024
The ESSI was founded at the request of Germany and is an initiative for ground-based air defense in Europe. The aim is to strengthen air defense on the continent and better pool efforts in this area. Eleven countries have now signed the declaration of accession to the MoU and, like Austria, Switzerland has also recorded its reservations regarding neutrality in an additional declaration, for example to exclude any participation or involvement in international military conflicts (-> Is Sky Shield compatible with Austria’s neutrality?). https://militaeraktuell.at/militaer-aktuell-bei-den-austria-arms-action-days-2024/ The purpose of the ESSI is to better coordinate and, if necessary, bundle air defense procurement projects in Europe in order to exploit economies of scale in the procurement of systems and improve interoperability between the partner countries. This will also enable cooperation in training, system maintenance and logistics. “By signing the Memorandum of Understanding today, we are taking another important step for Austria’s security architecture in order to increase our comprehensive defense capability many times over. We are doing this for our security, for the security of our children and grandchildren,” said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. She also added that neutrality remains unaffected by this, as decision-making sovereignty will remain in Austria. “When we talk about the European protective shield or this European initiative, we are talking about joint procurements. This means nothing other than that we can procure the necessary air defense more quickly and cost-effectively, two for the price of one, so to speak,” explained the Minister.
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