The Politics of European Air Defense
How does the EU, NATO, and neutrals integrate European Sky Shield Initiative?
Germany leads the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), an air defense system that a total of twenty-two nations have joined together to implement. The system is described as a European “Iron Dome” in reference to part of the Israeli air defense system, but it is more inspired by the lessons of the Ukraine War. Air defense systems are one of the top priorities of the Ukrainians as they struggle to defend their infrastructure from Russian ballistic and cruise missile attacks. Experts evaluated Europe as lacking this capability.
There have been discussions about ESSI becoming a European Union project and receiving funding from the EU. The concept involves assigning ESSI to safeguard European infrastructure and cities that may not fall under NATO's military jurisdiction. France supported this idea, provided that EU funds exclusively go to European manufacturers. ESSI comprises three weapon systems: the German IRIS-T, the U.S. Patriot, and the Israeli Arrow 3 defense systems. This indicates that France has decided not to support ESSI and is developing an alternative plan with Italy, while Poland and Greece have rejected the idea of EU funding for ESSI. So, the EU has largely been cut out of ESSI.
NATO has declared that it will eventually integrate ESSI into its air defense systems. This does not mean that NATO would expand its responsibility, but that NATO and ESSI would be able to communicate to defend against attacks. This will blur the lines of NATO’s responsibility and could expand the battlefield beyond the military asset protection and forward edge of the battlefield. In the doctrine of total war, this does make sense.
The problem with NATO integration stems from the fact that Austria and Switzerland, two neutral countries and non-NATO members, are part of the ESSI partnership. Could a non-NATO country-based battery be used to support NATO operations or protect NATO countries? The other issue is that the U.S. maintains the most powerful military force in Europe, so how does the U.S. play a role in the integration of ESSI into NATO air defense systems?
Integration will undoubtedly address these issues at some point, but it is clear that air defense in Europe will raise important questions about roles and responsibilities among non-NATO neutrals, NATO European countries, and non-European NATO countries like the U.S. and Canada. Will NATO have overall control of the integrated system? Will it have some decentralized control, non-NATO centralized control, or division of effort? The challenge of multi-jurisdictional roles, which are not easily compatible, remains unresolved.