UK to lead European long-range missile project

Britain will lead a European project to develop a new long-range missile and end NATO's reliance on U.S. weapons as one of the first steps toward creating a European pillar within NATO, The Telegraph reports, citing diplomats and officials.

The “Deep Precision Strike Coalition” will be announced on the sidelines of this week’s gathering of the Western military alliance’s leaders in Ankara, Türkiye, as NATO’S European members race to plug the gaps left by Donald Trump’s withdrawal of US forces from Europe.

At the summit, Sir Keir will pledge to create a “more European NATO than ever before”, which will stand “ready to support Ukraine and face the long-term threat posed by an increasingly reckless and dangerous Russia”.

The scheme has gained traction in recent weeks in part because Mr Trump decided to cancel a Biden-era plan to deploy a battalion equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany to give Europe the ability to strike targets inside Russia.

As well as Britain, Germany, Ukraine, France and the Netherlands are understood to be involved in the pan-European coalition.

Details on the specification of any missile the new grouping might produce are to be hammered out at a later date.

But the deep-precision-strike category covers a broad range of weapons which are capable of hitting targets at a range between 1,000 and 3,000 km with pinpoint accuracy.

Such systems would be used to destroy a foreign enemy’s bombers preparing for take-off or to hit their military production facilities.

Britain and Germany are likely to take on a leadership role within the coalition given their work on an existing programme to produce a ground-launched missile with a range of more than 2,000km.

The two countries are also involved in the European Long-Range Strike Approach, a similar initiative looking to create missiles with varying ranges alongside Italy, France, Poland and Sweden.

The coalition is one of three being planned to end Europe’s reliance on American military systems amid a review of the US force posture on the Continent.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov