UK suggests donating more Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine in exchange for German Taurus. [article]

5 comments

1. Excerpt:

   > *London does not share fears expressed by the German chancellor who suggests the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine would contribute to escalation. In this regard, the UK offers a “ring swap” of missiles as an option.*
   >
   > British Foreign Minister David Cameron said this in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ukrinform reports.
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   > “It is absolutely possible to set limits on the use of these weapons to ensure that they do not contribute to escalation in any way,” said the head of the British foreign policy office, according to a report released in German.
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   > He emphasized that Britain trusts Ukrainian partners who keep their word and do not use the weapons provided to them in a way that the partners who transfer them would not wish. The weapons provided to the Armed Forces of Ukraine serve “Ukraine’s defenses,” the British minister emphasized.
   >
   > […]
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   > Germany introduced the “ring exchange” scheme at the outset of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine in order to encourage allies who had Soviet-era weapons in stock to donate them to Ukraine in exchange for more modern ones offered by Germany.

2. Lets do it! !!

3. Mmh Taurus is not certified and integrated in the Eurofighter so far and UK doesn’t have Tornados anymore which would be certified (at least the German ones).

   There only had been some carrying tests with the Eurofighter but the software integration… didn’t happen so far.

   UK would first need to start a integration programm for Taurus on Eurofighter and train the crews on them which according to the leak takes a few month.

   So they couldn’t use them anyway as a quick replacement. How about instead the UK orders Taurus from MBDA this makes sure the production ramps up again and by the time they will be delivered you could be done with integration and training.

   Sounds again like an idea from a politican because he read it on X but never thought it fully through.

4. In turn they can donate to Ukraine! Brilliant, Old Chap.

5. NATO countries should be figuring out every way to donate until the US aid comes back. At the end of the day, the UK can invoke A5 and the US arsenal becomes available. To be clear, I’m not saying NATO should be pushing to escalate to A5. I’m just saying that NATO countries shouldn’t have to worry about their stockpile because they have full US backing if it comes to it.