France wants to join the UK-Germany missile project — FT
France is interested in joining a joint British-German project to develop new ground-based long-range missiles.
This was reported by the Financial Times.
According to the publication, Paris has already joined the negotiation process, and a trilateral meeting between France, the UK, and Germany could take place as early as the beginning of June.
The project in question was launched by London and Berlin in 2024 as part of the Trinity House defense agreement. Its goal is to develop a family of modern missiles with a range of over 2,000 kilometers, capable of striking distant military targets.
As the FT notes, the initiative gained new momentum after the U.S. abandoned plans to deploy American long-range missiles in Germany, which were intended to temporarily bolster Europe’s defense capabilities.
Currently, European countries possess missiles with a range of about 300 kilometers, but most of them can only be launched from the air or sea, which limits their rapid response capabilities.
One of the key factors for launching the project was Russia’s active use of ground-based missiles in the war against Ukraine, as well as the deployment of long-range weapons in the Kaliningrad region.
Potential participants in the program may include the defense contractor MBDA, the startup Hypersonica, and the French ArianeGroup, which could join in the development of components for hypersonic systems.
The French Ministry of Defense has officially announced a major review of its military planning strategy through 2030.
French President Emmanuel Macron has officially launched a large-scale program to build a new-generation aircraft carrier, known as PANG (Porte-Avions de Nouvelle Génération).
