Austria, a neutral country, announced this Saturday its intention to join the European Sky Shield initiative, launched in October 2022 by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the context of the war in Ukraine, to protect its airspace.
“We must and will take precautions to protect our country from the risk of drone or missile attacks,” Austrian Prime Minister Karl Nehammer said in a statement, referring to “a threat that has increased significantly”.
According to the Austrian top man, this decision does not affect the neutrality of Austria, which has also been a member of the European Union (EU) since 1995.
“No European state alone can guarantee the effective defense of its airspace against new threats,” the Chancellor stressed, while Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner praised “an important step in the country’s history”.
This future “European Sky Shield” has so far attracted 17 countries: 16 members of NATO, including the United Kingdom, the Baltic States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, in addition to Sweden, a candidate to join the Atlantic Alliance. Portugal is not included.
It’s about making joint acquisitions to have the full spectrum of anti-aircraft systems, counting on the German short-range Iris-T, the American medium-range Patriot, and the US and Israeli long-range Arrow-3 system.
France, Italy and Poland are not part of this system. Paris defends a sovereign air defense, with European equipment.
Source: DN
