"We are making a UK commitment to the long-range missile programme, a formal commitment alongside Germany, France, Poland and a couple of others”, John Healey announced Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels.
"This is long-range compared to the capabilities that many of us already have and are able to use," he told reporters, adding the development was also part of a NATO effort to strengthen its own deterrence and the protection of Europe.
At the NATO summit in Washington in July, Poland, France, Germany and Italy signed a letter of intent to develop the missiles that have a range of more than 500 km.
Missiles with a range of several hundred kilometers have had a revival since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Moscow launching cross-border strikes and Kyiv hitting back at targets in Russian territory, the Reuters news agency wrote.
Healey also said London was ready to deploy swiftly, if needed, “thousands of British troops” to Estonia to bolster NATO's eastern flank against the threat from Russia.
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Source: Reuters, AFP