Great Britain and Germany will sign a defense agreement today — the first of its kind between these two European countries, which are among the biggest defense spenders in Europe, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The two NATO member states said the pact, known as the "Trinity House Agreement", would boost their ability to cooperate and conduct exercises on the alliance's eastern flank, enhancing deterrence amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"With air, land and sea projects, as well as those in cyberspace, we will jointly increase our defense capabilities, thus strengthening the European pillar in NATO," said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. He added that the war in Ukraine has shown that "we should not take security in Europe for granted".
"It is particularly important to me that we cooperate even more closely to strengthen NATO's eastern flank and to close critical capability gaps, for example in the area of long-range strike weapons," added Pistorius.
Under the agreement, the two countries will work together to develop new weapons with greater range and higher accuracy than current long-range systems, such as the Storm Shadow missiles Britain provides to Ukraine.
Germany will periodically deploy aircraft to Scotland to help protect the North Atlantic, Britain has announced. The countries will cooperate in the field of armed vehicles and land-based drones, as well as work on equipping Germany's Sea King helicopters. — granted to Ukraine — with advanced missile systems.
The company "Rhinemetal" will also open a new factory, creating 400 jobs, which will be the first artillery barrel manufacturer in the UK for a decade.
British Defense Secretary John Healy said the agreement was "a landmark moment in our relationship with Germany and represents a significant strengthening of Europe's security.
"It provides unprecedented levels of new cooperation with German armed forces and industry that benefits our shared security and prosperity, protects our shared values and strengthens our defense industry," Healy added.
Although the agreement is bilateral, it also notes that Britain, Germany and France already have similar defense agreements with each other, paving the way for future cooperation. In 2010, Britain signed the Lancaster House Treaties with France, and Germany and France signed the Aachen Treaty, which came into force in 2020 and covers similar topics.