“German shield”. Because of Ukraine, Berlin wants to create a unified air defense system in Europe

At Charles University in the Czech Republic this week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced the German government’s view on the European Union’s updated air defense system.

Official representatives of the Bundeswehr have already talked about the concept of the “German Shield” with various measures against air assault weapons at extremely low, medium, high and at different heights in the stratosphere.

In this context, Airbus’ Airbus’s Surface-to-Air Operations Center combat management system (SAMOC) has been proposed as an automated control system in this context.

According to experts, the SAMOC system will be able to combine components of air defense forces and vehicles from NATO member states and non-NATO countries. The current operating countries of such a system are Germany, Hungary and Saudi Arabia.

German and Dutch military departments combined air defense systems in previous exercises. In his speech at Charles University, Olaf Scholz mentioned Poland, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic and the Scandinavian countries as possible participants for further integration.

Earlier this year, German Air Force officials began the supply of “high-end systems”, which are Israel Aerospace Industries’ Arrow-3 anti-missile systems.

This missile launcher is designed to destroy warheads of intercontinental ballistic missiles in extra-atmospheric space and to destroy spacecraft in low earth orbits. True, to date, the system has not reached the equipment of the Bundeswehr.

As for the “low level of protection”, the German companies Rheinmetall, Hensoldt and DiehlDefense met last year in a co-executive cooperation based on the production of the Diehl Iris-T SLM anti-aircraft missile system.

Europe’s leading designer and manufacturer of missile systems MBDA (Matra BAE Dynamics Alenia) and other businesses in this field also began to advertise and offer highly mobile anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes specially designed to confront small unmanned aerial vehicles.

Germany is also trying to take a leading role in the mid-range air defense systems / air defense systems segment designed to combat aerodynamic targets such as manned aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles, replacing American Patriot air defense systems with its own development, American Patriot air defense systems. TLVS (Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem).

However, last year the program was closed for fears that the investment required for its development and mass production would lead to the outflow of funds to create systems to combat drones.

The consequences of this decision could undermine Germany’s aspirations to become a leader in air defense systems.

Since Berlin decided to abandon the creation of its own promising air defense system of the TLVS type, other countries began to look for suppliers of anti-aircraft missile weapons on the side or ordered the modernization of Patriot air defense systems from the United States.

There is no doubt that the experience of combat operations gained during the special military operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine had a decisive influence on the review and improvement of the German leadership’s views on creating an air defense system in Europe. continent.

For the successful implementation of any offensive / defensive operation, reliable protection for troop groups and the most important infrastructure facilities with all possible air defense forces and means was previously considered one of the most important conditions, but against the background of events in Ukraine , air The importance of defense forces has increased many times.

The problems of combating projectiles and guided missiles of MLRS and unmanned aerial vehicles are especially acute today.

In this regard, we can safely say that Berlin may revive the TLVS program in the near future.

The author’s view may not coincide with the editors’ position.

Author biography:

Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military observer of socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.

Graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-aircraft Missile School (1976),
Air Defense Military Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile battalion (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of an anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior officer of the Air Defense Forces Main Staff (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).