German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his UK counterpart, John Healey, met in Scotland to discuss deepening cooperation against cyberattacks, a year after signing a historic deal on defence collaboration.
Pistorius and Healey agreed during their meetings in Lossiemouth on Thursday to develop a secure cloud network to better share data and intelligence, which would bolster the countries’ cyber defences. They also vowed to do more to protect Nato logistics and transportation networks from cyber threats.
“We’ve rightly been challenged to do more as European nations,” Healey said at a news conference on Thursday. “As we face the future, it’s clear we must do more.”
Future collaboration could extend above the Earth’s atmosphere. Last month, Pistorius announced that Germany would commit €35 billion to space-related defence by 2030, and reiterated during a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday that he was looking for partners.
The countries have already agreed to jointly deploy Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which will periodically be based in Lossiemouth. Germany will receive its first Poseidon next month, with seven more to follow over the next year. The aircraft will be armed with BAE Systems Sting Ray torpedoes.
Pistorius said the Future Combat Air System collaboration between Germany, France and Spain, was still on track for a decision by the end of the year on whether to continue. The programme has been delayed as partners Dassualt Aviation, Airbus and Indra Sistemas bicker over their roles.
The UK-Italy-Japan GCAP programme, which also seeks to develop a sixth-generation fighter aircraft, is “well established,” Healey said. Asked about whether there would be room for Germany in that effort, he said his focus was “the partnership we have now.”
The Germany-UK deal signed in 2024, called the Trinity House Agreement, is a wide-ranging defence collaboration between Germany and the UK, including the joint development of a precision deep-strike weapon and the procurement of Boxer armoured vehicles. It also features increased investments of German defence companies in the UK, such as defence giant Rheinmetall and startups Helsing, ARX Robotics and Stark Defence.
Pistorius is travelling through the North Atlantic region, and signed an agreement on Sunday to increase military cooperation with Iceland. During his visit to Canada the next day with Norwegian defence minister Tore Sandvik, he discussed a possible Canadian—Norwegian-German submarine partnership.
