politics
Twelve countries plan £37bn missile project for Europe
Twelve countries including the UK will spend more than £37bn over ten years on a new long-range missile system. The project will be discussed at a NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
Jul 8, 1:57 AM·1m read1 source
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Twelve countries, including the UK, plan to spend more than £37bn on a new long-range missile system over the next ten years. The project, called Deep Precision Strike, was announced by the UK government and will be discussed at a NATO summit in Ankara.
The system is designed to strike targets nearly 200 miles away with high accuracy and may reach up to 1,250 miles. Officials said the weapon is intended to strengthen European defense capabilities within NATO.
Summit discussions The prime minister will meet about a dozen leaders on Wednesday to review the missile program. The UK has already committed £300bn to defense spending by 2030 under its Defence Investment Plan. NATO members agreed last year to reach 5% of GDP on defense and security by 2035. The UK has not yet presented a plan to meet a 3.5% GDP defense spending target by that date.
Russian reaction The Kremlin said it would monitor the Ankara summit closely.
A spokesman stated that additional weapons supplied to Ukraine would not stop Russia's military operation. Ukrainian officials used the summit to request more air defense systems. The government noted that NATO aircraft intercepted Russian planes more than 700 times and that Russian activity near UK waters rose 30%.
