Breaking news
German defense ministry reportedly decides on MEADS missile defense system 15051511.
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Defence & Security News - Germany
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| German defense ministry reportedly decides on MEADS missile defense system | |||
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The German government has reportedly made a major decision on military spending. According to a German leading daily, Germany had decided to purchase the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) developed by US defense giant Lockheed Martin in cooperation with German MBDA and Italian companies.
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 MEADS Launcher integrated onto a German MAN Prime Mover (Photo: MEADS International) |
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The defense ministry has, however, so far declined to confirm the report, saying a decision would be announced before the end of June. The project to develop the mobile, surface-to-air defense system began 10 years ago. But then the US government decided not to purchase it, claiming development was too far behind schedule. In 2011, the German defense ministry followed suit, saying it would abandon plans to buy the system - having already invested over 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion). A new defense system would to replace the Bundeswehr's current "Patriot" missile equipment (pictured above) developed by US company Raytheon in the 1980s. MEADS is a mobile surface-to-air missile system designed to ward off attacks from tactical ballistic missiles and aircraft. In 2014, developers announced that a Meads unit had a 360-degree firing arc, and so could successfully deflect simultaneous rocket attacks from different directions. The system comes with a price tag of 4 billion euros which would make it the most expensive purchase in years.
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