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Britain and Germany have signed what they said was their most comprehensive defence co-operation agreement in decades, pledging to urgently reintegrate the UK’s defence industry into European supply chains after Brexit.
Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon, new UK defence secretary John Healey criticised his Conservative predecessors for presiding over “seven years . . . in which Britain’s essential relationships with many European allies have been strained at best,” with a promise to “reset” the country’s strategic position on the continent.
“European security will be this government’s first foreign and defence priority,” Healey said, unveiling a raft of commitments with Germany, the continent’s single biggest defence spender, which would be the “first step” in a “commitment to greater industrial collaboration” on defence.
It is barely three months since former prime minister Rishi Sunak signed a defence agreement in Berlin that he claimed would secure hundreds of British jobs, with a joint project to develop and build a new high-tech howitzer.
Healey dismissed the previous government’s defence commitments as largely meaningless “pieces of paper” compared to the new declaration.
His visit to Berlin is the first on a 48-hour European tour which will include stops in Poland and Estonia as the UK’s new Labour government seeks to put Nato and Ukraine at the centre of its foreign policy agenda.
Welcoming his counterpart, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said it was time to put relations with Britain “on a new footing” as Europe seeks to address mounting security challenges around rearmament and deterring Russia.
Pistorius highlighted the need for European Nato members to urgently develop new long range precision weapons. “The long-term goal here is joint development, procurement and production,” he said.
“For many years there were a whole series of joint defence projects [with the UK] from which both sides benefited. For example the Eurofighter/Typhoon [fighter jet], the A400m [transport aircraft] and the Boxer [infantry fighting vehicle].
“We say 1721842766 we want and need to work even more closely together.”
British involvement in European defence projects has been historically difficult terrain to navigate, however.
While European governments have repeatedly stressed the need to develop interoperable and universal combat systems for Nato members, political realities — and the desire to keep projects within the EU — are an impediment.
France is particularly wary of overtures made by British defence companies to Germany over the possibility of Berlin joining the UK-led next generation air combat project, known as GCAP, for example.
Doing so would involve Germany breaking out of its current defence development pact with France to develop a rival platform, known as FCAS.
Healey has nevertheless championed Britain’s defence industry as a key plank in efforts to re-engage with Europe in his first three weeks in office.
As well as being Europe’s biggest spenders on defence, the UK and Germany are also the largest suppliers of military aid to Ukraine after the US, having sent €8.8bn and €10.2bn respectively since Russia launched its full scale invasion, according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
The drive for tighter co-operation between Ukraine, and British and Germany defence companies comes just weeks after an alleged Russian plot to assassinate Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Germany’s largest defence company, Rheinmetall, was exposed.
Papperger has been outspoken in his support for Kyiv. Analysts have speculated that the alleged plot was part of an attempt by the Kremlin to threaten defence industry CEOs and discourage them from supporting efforts to manufacture more ammunition to send to Ukraine.