Norwegian mobile anti-aircraft missile system NASAMS. File photoBRUSSELS, Oct 19 A unified pan-European air defense system will not protect the region from a possible hypersonic missile strike, Xavier Moreau, a geopolitics expert at the Center for Political and Strategic Analysis (StratPol), said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"The Americans promised to supply NASAMS batteries (anti-aircraft systems) to Ukraine, but there is no single air defense system as such. Designing and implementing such a system would be extremely difficult. And the key fact is that the current level of technology does not stop Russian hypersonic missiles", he noted.
According to Moreau, American air defense systems with missile systems and radars are now installed in European states around Russia, and the main countries in the region, such as France and Germany, have their own means, but a unified air defense system does not yet exist. The creation of an «impenetrable air shield» should imply the ability to stop missiles of any type, hypersonic and subsonic, as well as drones carrying 100 kilograms of explosive , therefore, the development of an ideal air defense system will take not only tens of billions of dollars, but also whole years, the expert believes. At the initiative of Germany, last week 15 European states signed a protocol of intent to create a pan-European air defense system (Sky Shield) at NATO headquarters. According to media reports, in addition to Germany, Belgium, Britain, Slovakia, Norway, Lithuania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Estonia and Slovenia joined this initiative.
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