Germany will allocate $17 billion to create a powerful anti-missile shield

Germany is ready to spend about $17 billion to organize a new line of defense, Bloomberg reports.

Negotiations with suppliers of air defense systems are already underway. Among the possible partners of the German authorities to create new defensive structures are called Diehl Defense, which can supply up to eight IRIS-T anti-missile systems for $ 2-3 billion. It is also possible to supply Israeli Arrow 3 systems for $4 billion and American Patriot systems for $ 10 billion, Kommersant notes.

Initially, only the installation of IRIS-T systems was reported. However, it is now expected that the German missile defense system can be expanded, while its protection can extend not only to German lands, but also to neighboring countries.

The reason for the concern of the German Defense Ministry was that the Russian Iskanders stationed in Kaliningrad could reach the territory of almost the entire Western Europe. At the same time, the EU states cannot yet provide full protection against a possible nuclear strike.

The EU sees the danger of Iskander systems in the fact that they can be a means of delivering tactical nuclear weapons. In November 2008, Dmitry Medvedev, who held the post of President of the Russian Federation at that time, in an address to the Federal Assembly, said that the answer to the American missile defense in Poland would be the deployment of Iskander missile systems in the Kaliningrad region. In 2011, Dmitry Medvedev again stated that the Russian Federation is ready to deploy the Iskander complex if NATO countries continue to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.

In August 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it was acquiring two brigade sets of Iskander-M tactical missile systems. The contract amount exceeded 20 billion rubles.

"The purchase is carried out to increase the firing capabilities of the Ground Forces. A contract has also been signed for cruise missiles for Iskanders", - the Russian Defense Ministry officially announced.

In December 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the use of Iskanders against Ukrainian military facilities.