The just concluded July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye established a set of agreements to produce and deploy various new missile capabilities, each of which constitute major escalating threats against Russia, as part of the London-led strategy of cornering and then supposedly dismantling the Russian Federation. A July 9 interview with RTVI by Russian military expert, and founder and author of the Military Russia project, Dmitry Kornev provides a useful summary of the way in which NATO is building a European production network for Tomahawks, ATACMS, Patriot interceptors, and Ukrainian strike drones. “This news fundamentally changes Europe’s missile capabilities and sets entirely new, more ambitious challenges for the Russian Federation’s missile industry… All of this signals another round in the arms race.”
Kornev notes: “The summit could be described as a ‘missile summit.’ No one has put it this way yet, but it was largely about missiles, because several agreements were reached during the event that fundamentally alter at least the European picture regarding missile technology.”
He identifies the principal agreements reached:
American Tomahawk cruise missiles: Germany reportedly agreed to purchase up to 400 such missiles, for a total cost of some $1.2 billion. “The USA has given the green light for Germany to receive Tomahawk cruise missiles. This is something Germany has been requesting for quite some time… On the sidelines of the meeting in Ankara, Merz has announced that an agreement has been reached with the US administration on the acquisition and deployment of American Tomahawks in Germany.” According to Kornev, the specific missile configuration involved is not yet known. Tomahawks can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, and can have a range of up to 2,500 km, which would mean Germany could strike any target in the western part of Central Russia.
Patriot missiles: The most publicized missile-related announcement at the NATO summit came from President Trump, who approved granting Kiev a license to manufacture missiles for the Patriot air defense system. “Whether or not Kiev will be able to produce Patriot missiles, and whether or not they can do this quickly, is not the main point. What matters is that the USA has given the green light,” Kornev emphasized. “One European country is obtaining a license to manufacture missiles, while others are establishing a maintenance center; these nations possess the technical and industrial capacity for production. If they act in concert, we could see European-Ukrainian Patriot missiles as early as tomorrow—produced somewhere in Europe under a Ukrainian license. That is the most likely scenario for how things will unfold,” he said.
Ukraine’s ‘Bars’ cruise drones: “Germany has announced that it will manufacture Ukrainian ‘Bars’ cruise missiles, either on its own soil or with its participation. This is a jet-powered missile-drone, such as was used, among other instances, in recent strikes on Moscow. It is a particularly troublesome missile in that it is relatively fast and quite compact. Germany will be producing ‘Bars’ cruise missiles—likely for its own use as well, but primarily for Ukraine,” Kornev said.
ATACMS missiles: “An agreement has been reached with the US—for the first time in history, ATACMS missiles will be produced outside the United States, specifically in Germany. These missiles will then be supplied to European NATO countries, Germany, and so on,” Kornev said.
