The United Kingdom and Germany have taken a step forward in plans to develop a new family of long-range stealth cruise and hypersonic missiles as part of a joint deep precision strike programme.
UK Defence Minister Luke Pollard met Germany’s State Secretary for Armament and Innovation, Jens Plötner, in Berlin to review progress on the initiative during the Defence Bilateral Ministerial Group on Equipment and Capability Cooperation.
The programme aims to develop weapons capable of striking targets at ranges exceeding 2,000 kilometres, with the systems expected to enter service during the 2030s. According to the Ministry of Defence, the effort will initially focus on ground-launched missiles but could later expand to include air- and sea-launched variants.
The project is intended to deliver what officials describe as a “family” of advanced weapons combining stealth and hypersonic capabilities to improve long-range strike options. The talks form part of ongoing cooperation between London and Berlin following the Trinity House Agreement signed in October 2024, which set out plans to strengthen defence industrial collaboration between the two countries.
The UK government said the joint programme remains open to additional partners in the future. Speaking after the meeting in Berlin, Pollard said the discussions marked progress in the development of new missile technologies.
“The UK-Germany relationship is incredibly strong, and we’ve marked a step forward in our work to develop cutting-edge missile capabilities.”
He said the programme would support both military capability and defence industry development.
“We are not only arming our military personnel with the best weaponry to act as the strongest possible deterrent to our adversaries, but in doing so we are also building the industrial foundations that will keep both nations at the forefront of defence technology.”
As I read it the press release indicates that both stealth cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles are being considered separately, not stealth and hypersonic in the same missile. The headline is a little misleading.
It’s a good idea so long as they actually commit to it, and we need naval launch if the range is only 2000km as that barely reaches Russia from the UK.
Buy some more A400M and develop and expeditionary long range strike force based on mobile truck platforms. Deploy to Norway and Finland in a crisis and you put the Russian Naval bases at risk , and Moscow.
They would form a NATO conventional deterrent force, build enough and it counters the Ru bomber and naval CM threat.
Add German ones based on its Eastern borders and deployed in Poland and Russia loses any intimidation factor it believes it possessed
If only we already had a family of long range cruise missiles in development with another European partner that could be launched from land sea and air 🤦♂️
I am all for this weapon in it’s original guise which was to be a long range, cheapish, cruise missile than could be truck launch in the UK and hit Russia.
What we don’t need is another expensive family of hypersonic and stealthy cruise missiles designed to attack hardened targets as we already spent years and billions developing STRATUS LO and RS.
If the Iran conflict has demonstrated anything with cruise missiles it is that numbers and cost can count as much if not more than fancy survival techniques. We need a long range conventional strike capability able to deal Russia a significant strategic blow to act as a deterrent. We don’t need more expensive bespoke weapons fired in a small batches because we already have them.
Indeed a Hi-Mid-Lo mix is needed.
The problem is if you ask what is needed it is always an exquisite system that will be future proofed for 25 years to ‘maintain tech edge’.
Whereas, as you say, a massive pile of cheapish pretty good missiles that can be mass produced in numbers is essential to endurance.
Yes especially when you already have a Mach 3 plus radar seeking cruise missile and a long rage highly stealthy anti ship weapon to hand. Affordable mass with extremely long range is what’s missing.
However I fear we may be pulled down a rabbit hole as Germany is essentially looking for its own STRATUS competitor when what we need is a European FLAMINGO.
The heavy lifters in Iran strikes are PRisM artillery rockets and LUCAS – Shaheeds with better guidance
Quantity has a quality all of its own
Uk mainland to main Russian north atlantic base of Murmansk is 1700 km. Shetland is closer at 1300kms and and puts Moscow in range.