The UK and Germany have signed a defence pact with the aim of closer co-operation in the face of a growing threat from Russia.
Under the agreement, German submarine-hunting planes will operate from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and arms giant Rheinmetall is set to open a factory producing artillery gun barrels using British steel.
The UK-Germany Trinity House Agreement is a sign of the Government’s attempts to forge close relations with European allies, particularly on defence and security measures.
But former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace questioned its value given Berlin’s continued refusal to send long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the former Tory Cabinet minister suggested the deal was more about deepening ties with the SPD, the German Chancellor’s party.
“If the new UK/ German ‘Trinity House’ agreement is to mean anything then Germany would have agreed with UK requests to send Taurus to Ukraine AND they would lift any export veto on potential Typhoon sales to Turkey – a Nato member. Otherwise it is pretty hollow and made up of stuff we are already doing or had started.
“This has more to do with ‘SPD is our sister party’ than real military mutual benefit,” he claimed.
But UK Defence Secretary John Healey called it a “landmark agreement”, adding: “It secures unprecedented levels of new co-operation with the German armed forces and industry, bringing benefits to our shared security and prosperity, protecting our shared values and boosting our defence industrial bases.”
It will see Nato allies collaborating on the development of long-range strike weapons with greater range than the UK’s existing Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The UK and Germany will also work together on developing new drones, both land-based and aerial.
German P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will “periodically” operate out of Lossiemouth in Moray under the terms agreed, potentially armed with torpedoes supplied by the UK to help keep the North Atlantic secure, the Ministry of Defence said.
London and Berlin will also work together to protect underwater cables amid the potential threat from Russian activity at sea.
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