UK, Germany vow to deepen defense ties during Sunak’s Berlin visit

BERLIN

The leaders of Germany and Britain announced new joint projects on Wednesday to deepen defense and security cooperation between the two NATO allies.

At a news conference in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz underlined that the allies should strengthen the European pillar of NATO in order to address new security threats.

“Our European capabilities to deter and defend must always remain credible. We also need to better use existing capacities, and deepen cooperation between our countries,” Scholz said.

“We are doing these with the UK on a wide range of projects, such as the new artillery systems, and the armored fighting vehicle Boxer. We are working together on the Eurofighter and we also want to further develop this aircraft and we also want to cooperate on the sky shield initiative,” he added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak underlined that the UK and Germany are the biggest defense spenders in Europe, and the two largest military supporters of Ukraine in the continent.

“We've taken greater responsibility for our collective security, and today we're going even further, opening a new chapter in the security relationship between our two nations, as you heard from Chancellor Scholz,” he said.

“We've committed to delivering a new framework for our cooperation on defense, and we're delivering an immediate expansion of our industrial cooperation, announcing a joint endeavor to procure the Boxer artillery system, providing our soldiers with a new cutting edge capability and supporting hundreds of German and British jobs,” Sunak added.

According to joint statement released after the meeting, the UK and Germany will jointly develop remote-controlled howitzer 155mm wheeled artillery system, which will be fitted to Boxer armored vehicles.

“We also intend to promote the Eurofighter/Typhoon aircraft, including through jointly modernising our fleets and cooperating on exports,” the two countries said in their joint statement.

“We will also develop our cooperation in air defence, including through the European Sky Shield Initiative, the DIAMOND Initiative, and through NATO Multi-National Procurement Initiatives,” the statement added.