Ursula von der Leyen

France, Germany and Spain sign next-generation combat jet agreement

France, Germany and Spain unveiled the first concept models for the Future Combat Air System jet, an ambitious project aimed at bringing together EU military forces

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German parliament extends Africa military missions

The Bundestag extended German deployments to UN and EU missions in Mali and to the EU's Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission until May 2020

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Germany pledges €110 million to boost NATO battalion infrastructure in Lithuania

Germany will invest €110 million (US$127 million) in military infrastructure in Lithuania until 2021, its defense minister said on a Monday, February 4 a visit to mark two years since NATO installed battalions in the Baltic region to ward off Russia. In 2017, NATO deployed four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states as a counter against possible Russian action following its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Germany leads the NATO battalion in Lithuania comprising 1,200 troops from 10 countries. “We’re going to invest in the long-term engagement,” Ursula von der Leyen told reporters, adding that Berlin would invest in “common barracks and training fields” in Lithuania until 2021. Lithuania’s defense minister Raimundas Karoblis hailed Germany’s spending plans as evidence of commitment to the NATO deployment. “We have heard very officially, very clearly at the political level … that Germany is for the long run here and will stay here as long as the security situation will demand it,” Karoblis said. The other three NATO battalions deployed in 2017 are based in Estonia, Latvia and Poland and are led by the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, respectively. The three Baltic states, with a combined population of …

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US concerns over EU PESCO defense pact cloud NATO talks

Brussels (AFP) – NATO defence ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss Washington’s concerns over the European Union’s new plans to deepen defense ties between its members, and increasingly strained U.S.-Turkey relations. Washington and Ankara, two of the transatlantic alliance’s most important members, are at loggerheads over Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday warned it was detracting from the fight against the Islamic State group. The two-day meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels is expected to approve changes to the alliance’s command structure. It aims to meet the challenges of warfare in the 21st century, particularly cyber attacks and other novel “hybrid warfare” tactics, as fears grow about Russian assertiveness. But a working dinner with E.U. diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini later Wednesday has taken on greater significance after senior US officials voiced fears about the impact the bloc’s new landmark defence pact could have on the balance of power in NATO. The E.U.’s so-called permanent structured cooperation on defence agreement, known as PESCO, has projects in view already to develop new military equipment and improve cooperation and decision-making. But on Sunday a senior official working with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis …

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