European Sky Shield Initiative is a program to develop a large continent wide anti-missile and air defense system stretching across Europe. In this regard, 14 NATO member states along with Finland have signed a letter of intent (LoI) to join a long-term German project to create a European anti-missile shield. As per NATO’s official press release, the initiative “aims to create a European air and missile defence system through the common acquisition of air defence equipment and missiles by European nations.”

On this occasion, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană said, “The new assets, fully interoperable and seamlessly integrated within the NATO air and missile defence, would significantly enhance our ability to defend the Alliance from all air and missile threats.” The states who signed this LoI includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, the United Kingdom.

It’s obvious that any such system would also integrate existing US ADS/BMDS in Europe like THAAD and Patriot already present in Germany, Romania and Poland. The US systems and SM-3 based Aegis BMD has been deployed in Mediterranean Sea along with its land based component known as Aegis Ashore. Both these systems are based on US radars and interceptor missiles. For example, Aegis BMD has SM-3 (Standard Missile-3) interceptors guided by ship based AESA radars like AN/SPY-1 . The Aegis BMD uses the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 mid-course interceptors and the RIM-156 Standard Extended Range Block IV (SM-2ER Block IV) terminal-phase interceptors developed by Raytheon.

This leads to the idea that this initiative is not a long term plan as far as its development is concerned, but a short-medium term development strategy is being followed in which instead of developing new anti-missile, anti-aircraft systems, various existing ADS /BMD systems will be acquired jointly and then interconnected to create a layered defense mainly against Russian missiles and aerial threats.

It’s an operational imperative that to establish such sky shield, various systems of different ranges and altitudes. So far, NATO hasn’t mentioned any specific ADS/ BMD system for this initiative, but there are some strong candidates out there in this regard.

US Patriots ADS, German Iris-T and THAAD or Israeli Arrow 3 are going to play key role. Actual challenge in this initiative is to develop a complete integrated battle management system or to integrate this new system in existing NATO Missile Defense systems like Aegis and Aegis Ashore. Arrow-3 is an Israeli origin  axoatmospheric hypersonic anti-ballistic missile system known for its high accuracy. It forms Israel’s top upper tier of aerial defense mechanism.

The system demonstrated its exoatmospheric capabilities during a test in 2019 when it hit an incoming enemy rocket outside the Earth’s atmosphere over Alaska. Arrow-3 is a joint-venture between the Israel and the US. According to German defense minister, Arrow-3 wouldn’t be ready for Sky-Shield Initiative till 2025.

On the other hand, THAAD is not part of permanent NATO missile defense system. THAAD was deployed in Poland in 2019 on temporary basis when the Patriot ADS was undergoing maintenance and upgrades. Once the Patriots got upgraded, THAAD battery was returned to its home station.

As per the statement of German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, Europe “want to jointly tackle this effort to close the gaps in air defense” because according to her, “It’s about being inter-operable, it’s about being able to set prices, it’s about being able to support each other, so it’s a win-win situation for the countries that are part of it.”

During her remarks, she hinted the possibility that other countries may join this European initiative. Interestingly, NATO, in 2011, offered India to become the part of its BMD program when India first test fired its Prithivi based interceptor missiles. At that time, the head of Indian BMD program said they are reviewing European offer.

Shahzad Masood Roomi

Shahzad Masood Roomi is founding member and, editor security and geopolitics at GCW. He is IT graduate and has more than 10 years experience of being a  geopolitics and defense affairs analyst. He focuses on IR, geopolitics, strategic studies, maritime security, cybersecurity issues, military aviation, history and geography. His work has published in national and international media outlets.