Self-propelled gun mounts PzH 2000, anti-drone systems and MLRS will be handed over by Germany to Ukraine by the end of 2022.
As early as this year, armored recovery vehicles, Dingo armored vehicles, bridge-laying tanks, additional Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers, additional MLRS, and anti-drone systems will be handed over. We will support in the matter of clearance. In a word, a huge package that is on the way, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht promised during the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum.
She also mentioned the winter package, generators, etc. The minister added that Berlin may not always be very vocal in the aid it provides, but it is indeed substantial support and will continue.
Since Russia’s rocket attacks on Ukraine earlier this week, NATO countries have become concerned not only with providing Kyiv with more air defenses, but with building their own integrated air defense system.
Earlier, Politico reported that with the help of Kyiv, everything is easier: the Ukrainian authorities already have a detailed list of what can protect the Ukrainian sky from the Russian threat. And for NATO, different countries had their own, sometimes outdated, approach to protecting the sky for a long time.
The 14 countries of the Alliance and Finland announced their intention to create a new system that would cover the entire European continent. Under this plan, called “Sky Shield”, the participating countries must acquire the latest air defense equipment in coordination with the rest of the participants in the process.
We must close the holes in the European air defense system as soon as possible, given the menacing times in which we live, the German defense minister assured.
Currently, they plan to organize this system without the active participation of the United States, although they will involve the already active Aegis Ashore systems operating in Poland and Romania. These systems are focused on protection against drones like the Iranian Shahed-136. However, the backbone of the future security system should be the American Patriot air defense systems, the German IRIS-T, and the Israeli Arrow-3, designed to neutralize targets at high altitudes.
Lambrecht also recalled that Germany would be able to supply Ukraine with the remaining Iris-T SLM air defense systems only within the next year. The German industry is not able to make air defense systems in a short time. At the same time, the minister acknowledged that in the context of the increased air strikes by Russia, the supply of modern air defense systems is now of decisive importance for Ukraine.
The first of four German-made Iris-T SLM complexes that Germany has pledged to send to Ukraine was delivered there last week.
Source: Racurs
