German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is set to visit London on Wednesday where he will sign a new defense agreement with his British counterpart John Healey. 

The NATO allies, who are also two of Europe's biggest spenders on defense, said the new "Trinity House Agreement" would strengthen their ability to cooperate and conduct exercises on the bloc's eastern flank.

Pistorius and Healey first spoke of the plans during their meeting in Berlin in July, with the signing of the agreement set to take place on Wednesday in London. 

The move comes amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a change of government in London, and less than two weeks before elections in the US being closely watched by NATO allies in Europe.

Pistorius calls to strengthen eastern flank

The German defense minister said the deal was about closing capability gaps within Europe.

"With projects across the air, land, sea, and cyber domains, we will jointly increase our defense capabilities, thereby strengthening the European pillar within NATO," Pistorius said in comments released ahead of his departure. 

He said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had shown "we must not take security in Europe for granted." 

Pistorius said it was "particularly important to me that we cooperate even more closely to strengthen NATO's eastern flank and to close critical capability gaps, for instance in the field of long-range strike weapons."

UK's Healey hails 'milestone moment' 

British Defense Secretary John Healey called the deal a "milestone moment in our relationship with Germany and a major strengthening of Europe's security." 

He also lauded elements of the deal seeking closer cooperation in partly commercial areas like weapons production. 

"It secures unprecedented levels of new cooperation with the German Armed Forces and industry, bringing benefits to our shared security and prosperity, protecting our shared values and boosting our defense industrial bases," he said. 

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall is planning to open a new factory that's expected to create 400 jobs and will be the first manufacturer of artillery gun barrels in Britain for a decade. 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also revealed shortfalls in European arms manufacturing and production capabilities, as Britain and Germany both seek to provide military assistance to Ukraine in what has become a prolonged conflict of more than two-and-a-half years, depleting their stockpiles.

Another part of the accord will involve stationing German surveillance aircraft that identify submarines in Scotland, from where they will monitor the North Atlantic.

Deal reflects Britain's European 'reset' — Berlin

The Defense Ministry in Berlin described the accord as "also [being] an expression of the British change of direction towards Europe."

This was a reference to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party winning elections in July and returning to power for the first time since 2010 and since Britain's departure from the European Union. It has since said it seeks a "reset" in its EU relations. However, some have questioned how much can be really done given that Starmer also rules out any returns towards EU institutions. 

The bilateral accord was open to other European allies should they wish to join in future, the two governments said. 

Europe's other major military power and arms manufacturer is France, and now all three have comparable bilateral security deals with each other, potentially opening the door to further integration. 

msh/zc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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