Russia-Ukraine war: What is Europe’s new ballistic missile shield plan?
Nine European countries and Ukraine have launched a coalition to build Europe’s own defence against ballistic missiles. On Monday, the leaders of nine European countries
Nine European countries and Ukraine have launched a coalition to build Europe’s own defence against ballistic missiles. On Monday, the leaders of nine European countries and Ukraine gathered in Paris and announced a joint programme to develop Europe’s own Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition. In a declaration, they promised an integrated missile defence architecture, built through collective effort and shared industrial capacity. The framing is careful – “purely defensive” – but the context is unmistakable: Russia’s ballistic missile campaign against Ukraine has exposed how thin Europe’s defences are, how scarce and expensive US-made interceptors have become, and how dependent the continent remains on Washington’s goodwill. Here’s what the new coalition is actually planning and how it plans to do it. Who’s in the coalition — and who isn’t? The announcement came on the sidelines of a summit of the “Coalition of the Willing” – a much larger grouping of 35 nations, led by the UK and France, that has coordinated military support for Ukraine since March 2025 and is planning security guarantees for any eventual peace deal. About 25 heads of state and government attended the Paris meeting, which also covered further arms deliveries, sanctions pressure on Russia, and support for Ukraine’s energy sector before winter. The 10 founding members who signed up to the ballistic missile shield plan are: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK and Ukraine – a mix of Europe’s biggest defence industries and, in Ukraine, the only country on the continent with real combat experience against ballistic missile attacks.
The absences are notable; Poland, the Baltic states and Finland – the countries closest to Russia – are not among the signatories, and neither is the US. Why does Europe need its own missile shield? The declaration itself points to the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles – the weapons Russia has launched in volume against Ukrainian cities, and which only a handful of expensive, mostly US-made systems can intercept. “We believe that the protection of Europe requires a global solution of integrated missile defence architecture to deter and defeat future missile threats, developed through collective effort, technological openness and trusted industrial cooperation,” the leaders of the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition said in a statement. “Faced with the ballistic threat, we are making a clear choice: protect Ukraine, strengthen our collective security, and build the Europe of defence,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, adding that with the programme “we are strengthening the capabilities Europe needs”. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was blunter about the shortfall, acknowledging that at times Kyiv lacks the missiles needed to intercept ballistic targets. This, he said, was the reason Ukraine had joined the programme. Does Europe already have missile defence? Yes, but it’s patchy, expensive and largely foreign-made. Several countries field the US-built Patriot, the workhorse against ballistic missiles, but its interceptors cost millions of dollars apiece and production cannot keep pace with global demand.
The BriefWire