Dmitry Litovkin — on the prospects of the EU's own missile defense system
The European Parliament has proposed to the European Union to create its own missile defense system. This statement was made by the head of the leading faction of the legislative and representative body of the EU — the European People's Party (EPP) Manfred Weber. According to him, despite the strengthening of the EU countries through NATO and the rapid reaction forces of the European Union, Europe should have its own missile shield. Weber also called for increased defense spending to ensure the protection of Europe. However, the parliamentarian did not give any details. Apparently, political statements are one thing, and the elaboration of a real technical project is another. However, I think another thing is important — in Strasbourg they are talking more and more clearly about a kind of independence from Washington. "Europe must be able to defend itself. Now, without the United States, we are like without clothes in a storm," Manfred Weber declared.
In an interview with the newspaper Münchner Mercur, he noted that Europe also needs units that would protect critical infrastructure in cyberspace.
Sami with a mustache
The Europeans seem to have forgotten that a similar initiative was adopted by the EU back in 2019. The European Union then approved a project to create its own anti-aircraft and anti-missile system with TWISTER space components to repel air threats of the latest generation. It was included in the list of 13 new military projects adopted within the framework of the EU Structural Military Partnership program PESCO. The text of the document specifies that France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Finland will participate in its implementation.
The project was supposed to be based on two European systems: the IRIS-T SL/SLS air defense missile system of the German company Diehl Defense and the upgraded NASAMS II air defense system (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System - "Norwegian Improved Surface—to—air System" or National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System — "National Improved System") — a joint development of the Norwegian Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace and the American Raytheon.
The new IRIS-T SL is based on the IRIS-T air—to-air missile. It is equipped with an advanced rocket engine, as well as automatic data transmission and GPS navigation systems. The missile is capable of hitting planes, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles at an altitude of up to 5 km and a range of 10 km. According to representatives of Diehl, the modern architecture of the IRIS-T SL allows the missile to be integrated into existing, as well as air defense systems still under development. It is assumed that the German air defense forces will use it together with the American PAC-3 as part of the MEADS program.
The NASAMS II air defense system is already used by the armed forces of Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the USA. In the basic version of the NASAMS II SAM, it consists of several main components. The complex can be placed on towed trailers or car chassis. As a means of destruction, it uses American—made AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles adapted for launching from a ground installation.
In general, that's all. The essence of the problem of why Europe has practically no missile defense means of its own is that the EU has been relying on the United States for a long time. It is the Americans who provide anti-missile cover for the EU from possible attacks. Until recently, Iran and North Korea were called the main threats, but now Russia and China have joined them.
Open Market
At the dawn of rapprochement with the West, Moscow repeatedly proposed to Brussels to create a unified missile defense system. A similar initiative was made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Lisbon Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in 2010. This work would finally remove the issues of European security, and at the same time would make Russia, if not a member of the alliance, then an ally that Europeans could trust more.
In the discussion on the technical side of the European missile defense, Moscow took an unprecedented step at all, offering partners the opportunity to use information from the Voronezh-DM type over-the-horizon target detection station located near Armavir. Its locator is able to see the territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. At the moment, such stations are installed along the perimeter of the borders of our entire country.
As strike systems, Europeans were offered to buy Russian S-300PMU anti-aircraft missile systems and even the then newest S-400 Triumph (according to NATO codification — SA-21 Growler, from the English "grumbler"). By that time, the first such system was already in service with the Greek army; Turkey has the second one today — both NATO member countries. Of course, Washington has not stayed away all this time. But Ankara, for example, even after the obvious pressure from the United States, still declares that it intends to purchase the second regiment of the S-400 system from Russia. This was recently stated by the head of the Defense Industry Department of the republic Ismail Demir. In turn, Washington is persuading the Turkish authorities to transfer the S-400 to Kiev in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and the return of Ankara to the American F-35 fighter production program.
The S-400 Triumph makes it possible to deal with reconnaissance aircraft, strategic and tactical aircraft, as well as tactical, operational-tactical ballistic missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, and hypersonic targets with equal efficiency. The radar of the complex provides tracking of up to 100 targets and accurate — up to six, which, in fact, the missile is aimed at. For example, one missile destroys aerodynamic targets at a distance of up to 250 km, and the other is capable of shooting down an object at a height of 5 m.
But the most important advantage of the S-400 is its mobility. The complex can be deployed in any direction and deployed in just 5 minutes. In addition, he does not need to deploy the launcher in the direction of the target, which reduces the response time. The rocket starts vertically and already in the air with the help of additional steering engines leans in the right direction.
However, this system may soon become a weapon of the past. The head of the Almaz-Antey concern of East Kazakhstan Region, Yan Novikov, said that a new S-500 Prometheus system has been put into mass production in Russia. It has not only higher indicators in the field of radar, target selection, but also in fire potential. According to some reports, Prometheus is capable of shooting down not only ballistic missiles, satellites, but also hypersonic products. Judging by open sources, no other complex is capable of such a thing today.
The Naked King
In general, the European Union has been talking about creating its own pan-European army, corps, combat groups or other military formations for more than 30 years. The traditional supporters of this idea were Germany and France, and the opponent was the United Kingdom, which promised to block any attempts to create a military structure duplicating "what is already in NATO." Outside the EU, the United States also opposed the pan-European army, which obviously fears that the formation of independent armed forces could undermine the role of the North Atlantic Alliance. Secretary General of the organization Jens Stoltenberg argued that the European Union is dependent from the point of view of security and will not cope without the help of the alliance: "It should not be about competition, but about cooperation, the transatlantic alliance is extremely important for the EU." Actually, these passages, it seems to me, determine the response to Manfred Weber's initiative and the 2017 project — nothing will happen.
However, there is an opposite opinion. The EU has long ceased to be an exclusively economic union. The structure discusses the creation of its own European army. The situation with the special operation in Ukraine has shown that the EU countries are actively supplying weapons to Kiev not as members of NATO, but as representatives of the European Union. On the one hand, this removes responsibility from Washington and Brussels for fueling the conflict. On the other hand, this is exactly the demonstration of Strasbourg's independence.
It is also obvious that the EU will not be allowed to build a Europro independently of NATO. At the same time, as follows from the reports of the US Missile Defense Agency, the States have completed the construction of the Aegis Ashore missile defense complex in the village of Redzikovo (Poland) and will literally put it on alert from day to day. It will allow the Americans to "take full control of the entire European part of Russia." A similar facility is being built in Romania — the deployment of the American THAAD missile defense system is planned. The Ground Based Radar (GBR) system will monitor the airspace over Crimea and Krasnodar Krai. In general, I come to the conclusion that the EU has only one prospect — to accept everything only American or integrate into the military infrastructure already created by the United States.
Dmitry Litovkin