10 European countries announced the creation of an anti-ballistic coalition

10 European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, France, and Sweden) announced the creation of an anti-ballistic coalition that will jointly develop missile defense capabilities.

I fully understand that by the fifth year of the war, the phrase "the Europeans created a coalition" already makes your eye twitch. Mine too :)

A separate fucking disgrace is that the Europeans had to wait for a new record in the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine for the entire war (in June, Russia killed 265 people, and another 1,816 were wounded, DW, citing the UN, reports), before finally deciding to take such a step.

And although this is a fucking belated decision, it is still the Europeans’ first step toward reducing dependence on American missile defense systems.

At the same time, there are no specific deadlines in the declaration. It says the following:

▪️a certain "Flagship Project" is being created, which will work quickly on building ballistic interception capabilities;

▪️working groups are being created that will determine the requirements, criteria, and governance mechanisms;

▪️a roadmap is being created for developing the Coalition’s first operational capabilities.

In short, for now it is all still at the stage of "let our working groups get together and discuss what our future missile defense should look like." Fine.

Among other things, good news came from France.

▪️In the coming weeks, Ukraine is expected to receive new SAMP/T missile defense systems. (No details. These systems can shoot down Iskanders, but they are extremely scarce, and only 220-250 missiles a year are produced for them).

▪️France will provide Ukraine with a license to produce SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Aster 30 interceptor missiles (for SAMP/T missile defense systems), and AASM Hammer guided aerial bombs. (Following Trump’s lead. Good).

▪️Macron announced the sale of 16 Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine by 2028-29.

🇫🇷Merci!