After Achilles Shield deal, Israeli air defense dominates in Europe as continent races to rearm

The formal signing of the roughly €3.5 billion Achilles Shield deal in Tel Aviv marks more than a major commercial and diplomatic achievement for Israel. It also signals how sharply Europe’s defense procurement priorities have changed after decades of reduced military spending.

Israeli air-defense agreements with European Union countries have surpassed $15 billion in less than five years. Germany leads the shift. Berlin bought the Arrow 3 system in 2023 for approximately $3.6 billion, the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history, and approved an additional expansion worth about $3.1 billion at the end of 2025. The Israeli system now serves as the backbone of the European Sky Shield Initiative.

Romania has purchased short- and medium-range SPYDER systems for about $2.3 billion. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have bought SPYDER and Barak MX systems worth more than $1.2 billion combined, replacing aging Soviet-era air defenses. Finland purchased David’s Sling for approximately $345 million after joining NATO, while Cyprus acquired Barak MX systems in deals worth hundreds of millions of euros.

The shift follows years in which European governments redirected defense budgets toward education, infrastructure, health care and culture after the Soviet Union collapsed. Israel’s Arrow program, developed with American funding in the 1990s, initially drew little European interest as governments assumed the United States would protect them.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed that calculation. European countries found their defenses weakened, their arms industries diminished and their American partner pressing them to invest more in defense. The latest deals reflect a continent racing to rebuild capabilities after what the article describes as an extended illusion of a post-Cold War “peace dividend.”