Europe

Defence and security across Europe and NATO — procurement, posture and alliance politics.

UK Commits £26 Billion to Naval Bases, Including £15.1 Billion for Faslane

UK Commits £26 Billion to Naval Bases, Including £15.1 Billion for Faslane

Britain will invest approximately £26 billion over the next decade to modernise the Royal Navy’s three main bases, including £15.1 billion for HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, in what the Ministry of Defence calls the largest naval infrastructure programme since the end of the Cold War. Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed the funding on Tuesday during a visit to HMNB Clyde. The government forecasts investment of £7.1 billion at Devonport in Plymouth and £3.9 billion at Portsmouth on the Sole
News Europe
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MGG Geopolitics
Germany Funds 50,000 AI-Guided Drones Built to Hunt Through Russian Jamming

Germany Funds 50,000 AI-Guided Drones Built to Hunt Through Russian Jamming

Germany is financing 50,000 Ukrainian attack drones equipped with US-designed guidance software built to track moving targets after their connection to a human operator is disrupted, in one of the largest disclosed Western drone orders for Kyiv. The approximately €90 million programme combines Shrike first-person-view drones made by Ukrainian manufacturer SkyFall with Auterion Strike kits from US-headquartered defence technology company Auterion, according to Reuters. Deliveries have begun and
News Defence Exports
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UK Places First Contracts in European Race for Cheap Drone Defences

UK Places First Contracts in European Race for Cheap Drone Defences

Britain has awarded £3.16 million ($4.2 million) to three companies developing low-cost weapons to intercept drones, becoming the first of five European partners to place national contracts under a joint air-defence initiative. The relatively modest awards address one of the most pressing problems exposed by recent conflicts: inexpensive drones can be produced and launched faster than conventional air-defence missiles can be built or replenished. Russia launched an average of 208 Shahed-type d
News Europe
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MGG Geopolitics
Belgium's €3.1 Billion Skyranger Deal Puts Rheinmetall at the Centre of Europe's Air Defence

Belgium's €3.1 Billion Skyranger Deal Puts Rheinmetall at the Centre of Europe's Air Defence

Belgium confirmed a €3.1 billion air-defence package at the NATO summit in Ankara on 8 July, built around 20 Rheinmetall Skyranger short-range systems. The deal also takes in 10 NASAMS launchers and 14 Ground Master 200 radars, bought through existing Dutch framework contracts to speed delivery. Defence minister Theo Francken set out the plan as the country's first serious rebuild of a mobile air-defence layer it has largely gone without since the early 2010s. The systems are meant to cover cri
Europe Land Systems
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Japan Uses NATO Summit to Build Defence Links With Europe

Japan Uses NATO Summit to Build Defence Links With Europe

Japan used the NATO summit in Ankara to deepen defence ties with European partners, moving beyond symbolic alignment with the alliance as Tokyo seeks a larger role in the security architecture linking Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Turkey on the sidelines of the summit, while also joining NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Indo-Pacific partners Australia, New Zealand and South Korea for talks on Ukrain
Europe News
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Four NATO States Order Up to Five MQ-4C Triton Surveillance Drones

Four NATO States Order Up to Five MQ-4C Triton Surveillance Drones

Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway agreed to acquire up to five Northrop Grumman Corp. MQ-4C Triton surveillance aircraft for NATO, signing a letter of intent on Tuesday at the alliance's annual summit in Ankara. The high-altitude drones would join NATO's alliance-owned intelligence force and watch the seas from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, giving commanders a persistent maritime picture as Russian naval and submarine activity rises across the North Atlantic. Northrop would build the airc
News Europe
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Denmark’s P-8 Buy Shows Boeing Is Winning Europe’s Submarine-Hunting North

Denmark’s P-8 Buy Shows Boeing Is Winning Europe’s Submarine-Hunting North

Denmark is buying Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, joining a northern group of NATO allies that are standardising around the same American submarine-hunting jet as Russia’s undersea threat returns to the centre of European defence planning. Copenhagen said on Tuesday it would acquire two P-8As from Boeing to strengthen surveillance around Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Danish waters. The decision follows a US State Department approval in December for a possible sale of up to thr
News Europe
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MGG Geopolitics
Germany Expands Its Arrow 3 Shield as Europe's Air Defence Autonomy Slips

Germany Expands Its Arrow 3 Shield as Europe's Air Defence Autonomy Slips

Germany has confirmed plans for a second site for its Arrow 3 missile shield (July 1), the interceptor that will guard its cities against ballistic attack from beyond the atmosphere. The system is Israeli-led and needed American approval to be sold. It is not European, and that is the dilemma of Europe's rearmament. The continent's most ambitious territorial missile defence, fielded by its wealthiest power, is not built in Europe. Germany dreams, as the rest of the continent does, of arming it
Analysis Europe
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MGG Geopolitics