The UK and Germany have announced their intention to develop a long-range deep strike capability with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres (km).
Little is known about the system beyond the fact that it will be delivered in the 2030s, and the UK Ministry of Defence described its effect as a “deep precision strike” weapon.
The type of system the partner nations are pursuing is also vague. However, given it will reach more than 2,000km, this leaves open the possibility of either a ballistic or cruise missile. Indeed, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, this range does fall under the classification of a medium-range ballistic missile, traveling between 1,000–3,000km.
This new capability was announced on 15 May, when the German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius hosted his British counterpart, John Healey, in a Defence Ministerial Council meeting in Berlin. The two leaders discussed their joint endeavours under the bilateral Trinity House Agreement, established in October 2024.
As part of this bilateral defence and security agreement, the two partner nations, both of whom are Nato members, agreed to coordinate strategy as they seek to reinforce the defence and security of Europe.
It is said that the Defence Ministers will meet again tomorrow (16 May) alongside their French, Italian, and Polish counterparts in a meeting of the European Group of Five Defence ministers in Rome.
ELSA and Ukraine
On the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington last year, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland signed a letter of intent to develop their own European long-range strike approach (ELSA) capability, which would have a range of more than 1,000km.
A European ‘deep strike’ weapon, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces said at the time, constitutes “an essential tool for the continent’s defence,” offering operational and strategic depth to targetting.
Long-range systems offer a coveted effect. Throughout 2024, there had been a lot of pressure on the former US president Joe Biden to send a deep strike capability to Ukraine’s forces to eliminate the threat of indiscriminate Russian strikes on civilian and military targets alike.
However, Biden had persistently refused, concerned that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, would perceive the move as an escalation. By the time Biden had come around to the idea in November it was too late; Ukraine was already on the backfoot.
While ELSA’s design remains vague at this early stage, there has been widespread speculation about the potential contractors to deliver the continental programme.
MBDA has been identified as a likely frontrunner, as one of the leading weapons specialists in Europe, and after the company’s chief executive, Eric Beranger, recently intimated that the group could deliver fully sovereign systems soon if customers were to ask.
Project Brakestop
While this is the first time that the UK and Germany have announced their joint endeavour, the British government has already made some headway pursuing its own long-range effector under what it has designated as Project Brakestop.
This capability, however, is specified to exceed more than 500km.
The effector would go further than the Anglo-French, air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, which travels up to 250km; the American-made Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile, at 240km; and the local air defence CAMM missile, at 25km—all of which currently feature in the British arsenal.
