ANKARA, Turkey — A coalition of 12 European partner nations, led by the UK, have committed to spending $50 billion over the next decade to develop new deep precision strike capabilities, aimed at strengthening NATO deterrence.
The effort, dubbed the Deep Precision Strike Capability Investment Initiative, was launched on Wednesday as outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with other coalition members at the NATO Summit here in Ankara. The British Ministry of Defence said at the time the new initiative sits as “further evidence” of allies “stepping up to ensure a stronger, more European” alliance.
It added that the multibillion, long-range strike package package is set to deliver the “most advanced weapons NATO will have at its disposal in the future — with the ability to strike targets no less than 300km [186 miles] away and in some cases beyond 2000km, with pinpoint accuracy.”
Beyond the UK, the countries involved are: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. In a joint statement the coalition linked its existence to America’s shifting position in European defense.
“In particular, we recognise the need to increase our Deep Precision Strike (DPS) capabilities, including in response to recent US force adjustments,” the nations said. “These capabilities form an integral part of NATO’s defence plans. In order to deter, we recognise the need to demonstrate strength through credible capabilities such as DPS which centres on defending and denying an adversary military advantage.”
Dubbing the level of investment “serious money” on social media, European missile analyst Fabian Hoffman still warned that “Europe needs to start producing missiles, not headlines. I’ll wait until orders are placed and timelines are known before getting enthusiastic.”
A ministry spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the funding will support a “range” of deep precision strike weapons, adding that at a national level, the UK has committed £3 billion ($4 billion) over the next four years, to fund national long-range munitions projects under the recently announced Defence Investment Plan (DIP).
Big ticket projects that Britain is pursuing with European partners include Stratus, a future cruise missile under development with partners France and Italy to replace MBDA-made Storm Shadow weaponry. As noted in the statement, two variants of Stratus are planned: one a stealth based derivative, the other a high-speed design. Once operational, they are envisioned as being capable of destroying enemy ships and air defenses.
Separately, the UK is working with Germany on the Deep Precision Strike program to deliver stealth and hypersonic weapons capable of striking targets at a range of over 2,000km, with entry to service slated for the 2030s. Though primarily focused on ground-launched capabilities, the effort will “explore” air and naval designs.
As Breaking Defense reported on Tuesday, the UK is also banding together with Australia and the US on the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program, setting the British Army on course to field a supersonic ballistic asset capable of striking targets out to a range of 500km.
The 12 nation European deep strike coalition push comes after Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Turkey and the UK launched the allied Ground-Based Precision Strike Capabilities High Visibility Project during a defense industry forum on the sidelines of the NATO Summit on Tuesday.
This separate multinational initiative has been stood up to explore “development of novel deep precision strike capabilities, including new launchers and missiles,” according to an alliance release.
It said that a “lack of compatibility and interoperability” across allied deep strike systems “has been a recurring issue that effects production capacity.”
NATO added that the Ukraine conflict has shown the threat of long range strikes is growing and demands a “more agile approach” to developing and fielding such capabilities.
Likewise the MoD statement about the deep strike funding pledge paid tribute to the success of Ukrainian long-range systems used against Russia, outlining that they show how “game-changing impacts on the battlefield” can be achieved.
