{"id":4248,"date":"2023-07-10T15:29:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4248"},"modified":"2023-07-10T15:29:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:29:21","slug":"neutral-nations-austria-and-switzerland-agree-to-join-european-sky-shield-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4248","title":{"rendered":"Neutral nations Austria and Switzerland agree to join European Sky Shield Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Switzerland made clear that it will \u201cexamine\u201d areas where co-operation can be strengthened, with a plan to specifically address information exchange and training for the US-made Patriot air defense system, of which it ordered five units in June 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-4249\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-770x433.png 770w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-293x165.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-1400x788.png 1400w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41-390x219.png 390w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-41.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Defense ministers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria at the European Sky Shield Initiative Memorandum of Understanding ceremony. (German Ministry of Defense on Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-295737\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BELFAST \u2014 The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/03\/the-cost-of-neutrality-swiss-defense-industry-just-losing-our-market-amid-ukraine-conflict\/\">militarily neutral<\/a>&nbsp;nations of Austria and Switzerland have both signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) based around development of a common ground-based air defense (GBAD) capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Klaudia Tanner, Austria\u2019s minister of defense, and Viola Amherd, Switzerland\u2019s minister of defense, signed the MoU in Bern, Switzerland, today alongside Boris Pistorius, Germany\u2019s minister of defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe purpose of the ESSI is to better coordinate and, if necessary, bundle air defense procurement projects in Europe in order to use economies of scale and improve interoperability,\u201d noted Switzerland\u2019s Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vbs.admin.ch\/de\/home.detail.nsb.html\/96576.html\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A total of 17 countries have already joined ESSI, first launched in October 2022. Switzerland made clear that it will \u201cexamine\u201d areas where co-operation can be strengthened, with a plan to specifically address information exchange and training for the US-made Patriot air defense system, of which it ordered five units in June 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It highlighted that cost savings could be achieved by opting for just an approach. The small nation\u2019s historic neutrality, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eda.admin.ch\/eda\/en\/home\/foreign-policy\/international-law\/neutrality.html\">legally bars it<\/a>&nbsp;from participating in wars \u201cbetween states\u201d but allows it to \u201censure its own defence,\u201d will not be compromised by the decision to join ESSI, the state said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSwitzerland and Austria have set out their reservations about neutrality in an additional declaration, for example to rule out any participation in or involvement in international military conflicts,\u201d added the Swiss statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NATO\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/cps\/en\/natohq\/news_208103.htm\">stresses<\/a>\u00a0that ESSI will allow partners to develop a missile\u00a0defense system \u201cusing interoperable, off-the-shelf solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"de\" dir=\"ltr\">(1\/2)<br>Die European Sky Shield Initiative <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ESSI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ESSI<\/a> dient der St\u00e4rkung des \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa Pfeilers in der gemeinsamen Luftverteidigung der <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NATO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NATO<\/a>. \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf9&amp;\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udded haben beschlossen, sich an den Beschaffungen im Rahmen von ESSI zu beteiligen \u2013 im Sinne ihrer Neutralit\u00e4t ohne Integration in die NATO. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aD6I1R1pJi\">pic.twitter.com\/aD6I1R1pJi<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Verteidigungsministerium (@BMVg_Bundeswehr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BMVg_Bundeswehr\/status\/1677261698611179521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 7, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Current equipment plans for Sky Shield are focused on a proposal from Germany for the short-range air defense Iris-T system manufactured by German defense firm Diehl, America\u2019s Rayethon\u2019s medium-range Patriot PAC-3 and Israel Aerospace Industries\u2019s long range Arrow 3 missile system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, France has strongly pushed back against the German plans, opposing \u201cnon-European\u201d solutions, and remains unwilling to join Sky Shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat comes to us from non-European third parties is obviously less manageable, subject to timetables, queues, priorities, sometimes third-country authorizations and too dependent on the outside world,\u201d French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/europe\/article\/2023\/06\/20\/macron-says-european-missile-shield-project-prepares-for-tomorrow-s-problems_6034371_143.html#:~:text=The%20French%20president%20criticized%20Germany's,of%20Monday's%20Paris%20Air%20Show.&amp;text=1%20min.&amp;text=Germany's%20proposed%20European%20missile%20defense,problems%2C%22%20declared%20Emmanuel%20Macron.\">&nbsp;Le Monde newspaper<\/a>, during a European air defense conference held on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report also said that France had decided to procure \u201cseveral hundred\u201d MBDA-manufactured Mistral short-range surface-to-air missiles to counter ESSI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/neutral-nations-austria-and-switzerland-agree-to-join-european-sky-shield-initiative\/\">https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/neutral-nations-austria-and-switzerland-agree-to-join-european-sky-shield-initiative\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Switzerland made clear that it will \u201cexamine\u201d areas where co-operation can be strengthened, with a plan to specifically address information exchange and training for the US-made Patriot air defense system, of which it ordered five units in June 2021.\u00a0 BELFAST \u2014 The&nbsp;militarily neutral&nbsp;nations of Austria and Switzerland have both signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) based around development of a common ground-based air defense (GBAD) capability. Klaudia Tanner, Austria\u2019s minister of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4250,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248\/revisions\/4250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}