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European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI)

Launched in 2022 by the German Government in response to the war in Ukraine, the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) aims to strengthen the collective air and missile defence of European NATO states.
24 countries have joined forces to procure, use, and deploy a multi-layered defence system to ensure the comprehensive protection of the European airspace.

The ESSI advantages

  • Common procurement framework

    • Use of existing procurement contracts as contractual baseline
    • Lowest achievable unit prices through aggregated demand
    • Dedicated ESSI standard prices available to ESSI members
    • Full compliance with EU procurement law

  • Accelareted Delivery Times

    • Standardized ESSI configurations
    • Increased planning reliability for participating nations
    • Faster procurement compared to national stand-alone procurements

  • Operational and logistical synergies

    • Growing ESSI User Group with support by Diehl Defence
    • Joint training opportunities with German Armed Forces
    • Development of common training systems
    • Synergies in logistics, sustainment and lifecycle management

IRIS-T SLM - A Steadfast pillar of ESSI

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