France, Germany, and Poland, known as the “Weimar Triangle” countries, are set to deepen defense cooperation by jointly purchasing long-range precision weapons to address gaps in Europe’s arsenal. They have announced plans to hold a joint military exercise in 2025 aimed at countering the escalating threats posed by Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
On Monday, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu met with his German and Polish counterparts Boris Pistorius and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in Paris. They jointly announced plans for the upcoming joint military exercise, military mobility initiatives, and industrial cooperation.
The Polish Defense Minister stated that France, Germany, and Poland will hold a joint military exercise in Poland next year.
This meeting on Monday marked the first time the defense ministers of these three countries have convened since 2015. According to Reuters, the defense ministers of these countries have agreed to establish a mechanism for acquiring cruise missiles and other “deep precision strike weapons,” with the possibility for other European nations to join in.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has launched cross-border attacks, while Kyiv has attempted to target Russian entities within its borders. Cruise missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers have played a crucial role in actual combat situations. Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles fly at low altitudes, making them harder to detect by radar.
Reuters quoted Pistorius as saying after the meeting with the French and Polish defense ministers in Paris, “Deep precision strike weapons are a serious gap in European capabilities.”
Pistorius added, “Our goal before the Washington (July NATO) summit is to gather a group of like-minded European countries to address this gap in the medium to long term.”
He stated that the first step will be for this group to sign a memorandum of understanding at the NATO summit in July.
Lecornu mentioned that the memorandum aims to assess the long-range capabilities held by each country and company.
In April of this year, on the occasion of NATO’s 75th anniversary, the Weimar Triangle foreign ministers penned an article in the European edition of “Politico,” stating, “The future decades of freedom and security require a modern and robust transatlantic alliance. As Europeans, we are willing to do our part.”
The three countries have agreed to allocate at least 2% of national gross domestic product as a necessary prerequisite and starting point for defense, aiming to establish collective defense capabilities.