Austria and Switzerland intend to join Sky Shield

Austrian Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner (right) and Viola Amherd, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sports (centre), signed a letter of intent with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (left) for Austria and Switzerland to join the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative during a trilateral meeting in Bern on 7 July. (DDPS)

Austria and Switzerland signed a letter of intent (LOI) to join the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) on air defence during a trilateral meeting with Germany in Bern on 7 July. The LOI was signed by Austrian Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner, Viola Amherd, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sports (DDPS), and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.

Austria and Switzerland will join 16 NATO members and alliance invitee Sweden in ESSI, which was launched in August 2022 to improve European air defences and make them more interoperable through joint procurement, maintenance, logistics, and training, as well as through the exchange of air surveillance data.

Fourteen NATO members and then alliance invitee Finland signed the first ESSI LOI in October 2022 and were joined by Denmark and Sweden in February 2023. Austria and Switzerland will bring the number of participants in ESSI to 19. The others are Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and the United Kingdom.

Austria and Switzerland reiterated their neutrality in an additional clause in the LOI, for example, by ruling out involvement in international military conflicts.