— Ukraine and Germany will today announce a new joint-venture defense project between Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom.

— The U.S. plans to sell over $1.5 billion worth of missiles to European countries.

— Inside the Tonnerre: Life aboard a French amphibious helicopter carrier.

Good morning, and welcome to Morning Defense. Tips to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us at @joshposaner, @LauKaya and @calebmlarson.

FIRST GERMAN-UKRAINIAN JOINT DEFENSE VENTURE: Oleksander Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, tells Josh and Caleb that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will today announce the formation of a new Joint-venture defense project between Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian defense company. According to Kamyshin, it will be the first of three joint ventures with Ukrainian industry aimed at locating arms production inside the war-ravaged country.

The announcement will happen during the German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin today.

Find the full story here.

First, maintenance and assembly…: “German companies are looking to start local MRO [maintenance, repairs and operations] of weapons they sent to Ukraine,” Kamyshin said. The next stage is “assembly and manufacturing” in Ukraine — which Kamyshin described as a “logical development of relations” between Berlin and Kyiv.

…then production: Following that, Kamyshin said, the joint venture will transition “to assembly and later production, manufacturing of armored vehicles between Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom.”

Second joint venture: Kamyshin hinted at the next joint venture, telling Morning Defense that Flensburger Fahrzeugbau, a German Military vehicle manufacturer, will partner with a “private Ukrainian defense industrial company.” Together, these two joint ventures will “cover the full range of German weapons coming to Ukraine and can be serviced in Ukraine.”

EU: The European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee will today vote on an own-initiative draft report covering “EU space-based defense capabilities,” which sets out how the bloc can become more independent of major space powers.

NATO: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be in Sweden until Wednesday. He’ll meet with the country’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Defense Minister Pål Jonson, and Foreign Minister Minister Tobias Billström. 

FRANCE: The senate’s foreign affairs and defense committee will hear from General Thierry Burkhard, chief of the defense staff, on the 2024 budget. French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Israel.  

**A message from ASD: Defence research mainly aims at ensuring our armed forces’ operational superiority in the future. But defence innovation often generates technological spin-offs to civil sectors that improve our daily lives. Find out more about the cross-fertilisation of civil and defence research.**

US TO SELL MISSILES TO FINLAND, LITHUANIA AND UK: The U.S. government on Monday notified Congress of three foreign military sales to European countries. If lawmakers approve the deals, Finland will receive up to 150 AGM-88G advanced anti-radiation guided missiles (AARGM-ERs) worth about $500 million; Lithuania will purchase up to 36 AIM-120C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) for $100 million; while the U.K. will get up to 3,000 joint air-to-ground missiles (JAGM) at a cost of $957.4 million.

FRANCE SENDS WEAPONS TO ARMENIA: France is selling military equipment such as air defense systems to Armenia, as fears grow that Azerbaijan could follow up its seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh last month with an assault on its neighbor. 

On Monday, Armenia signed a contract to buy three Ground Master 200 radars manufactured by Thales — the same kind as were delivered to Ukraine to fend off Russia’s aggression — as well as another contract with Safran for equipment including night-vision goggles. Armenia and France also signed a letter of intent to kick off the purchase of Mistral air defense systems made by MBDA. “Now, you have to deliver fast,” Lecornu told Thales after the signing ceremony. More from Gabriel Gavin and me here. 

Three pillars of military cooperation: Paris has deepened military ties with Yerevan in the past months, focusing on three aspects: support for the Armenian armed forces; sharing infantry combat know-how, more specifically on ground combat, mountain warfare and precision shooting; and air defense.  

More to come: The bilateral defense cooperation will ramp up through 2024, Lecornu explained. French military officials will travel to Armenia to train local troops, while an Armenian delegation will come to France to visit the Air and Space Force’s military school, and France will help Armenia audit its air defense to identify blind spots. In 2024, Paris will dispatch a French military official to act as defense consultant for the Armenian executive branch. 

FRENCH TALKS WITH SAUDI ARABIA: Lecornu confirmed on Monday that “discussions” are ongoing with the petromonarchy on the potential sale of Rafale fighter jets, but declined to comment further. Over the weekend, La Tribune reported that Riyadh was interested in purchasing Dassault Aviation aircraft, but warned that Saudi Arabia might be pursuing a French contract merely to pressure Germany and the U.S.

BIG BUCKS FOR AIRBUS: Remember those Airbus Defence and Space contracts for maintenance and upgrades that we mentioned on Monday? They’re worth €1.2 billion, the company announced. On the other side of the Atlantic, Lockheed Martin decided to drop its bid with Airbus to build at least 75 refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force, according to Reuters. The European company will reportedly still pursue the contract alone.

**Do you want to know more about Europe’s defense policy and the increasingly important roles played by NATO and the European Union? Join us on November 21 at POLITICO Live’s Defense Launch event and hear from our speakers. Reserve your seat today!**

ERDOGAN MOVES ON SWEDEN’S NATO BID: The Turkish government on Monday submitted Sweden’s NATO accession bid to the country’s parliament for ratification, ending a months-long guessing game over whether Ankara intended to postpone its approval process further. While Erdoğan agreed in July to send Sweden’s bid to the parliament, Turkish parliamentarians have in recent weeks revived calls for “anti-terrorism” measures in Sweden. “It’s still unclear how long it will take for the Turkish lawmakers,” a Western diplomat said.

Stuart has more here.

BALTIC BLUSTER: Russia called threats to the Kremlin “unacceptable” after Latvia’s president suggested NATO should close off the Baltic Sea if it can be proven that Russia was involved in the Finnish gas pipeline leak. More here.

QUICK HIT: Read here about NATO’s “maritime cooperation and readiness” during Exercise Dynamic Mariner 23.

24 HOURS ABOARD A FRENCH AMPHIBIOUS HELICOPTER CARRIER: The French assault vessel Tonnerre — 199 meters long, 32 meters wide and that can carry 21,500 tons — was a key element in the European Union’s first live military exercise in October off the southern coast of Spain. In the training scenario chosen by EU military officials, European troops had to assault a beach to rescue the government of a fictitious ally called Seglia.

That’s exactly what the Tonnerre (“Thunder,” in English) was designed to do. But while the warship’s mission is projecting military force, it takes a lot of mundane activity for that to happen. Read my account of everyday life aboard the (WiFi-less) Tonnerre here.

UKRAINIANS RAISE SAILS TO SCOTLAND: This week, Ukrainian navy forces will take part in the Joint Warrior 23-II multinational exercise, the Ukrainian Armed Force’s Navy Command said in a statement on Monday.

Military regata: The joint naval exercises are held within the territorial waters of Great Britain. Ukraine sent the Cherkasy and Chernihiv mine countermeasures vessels to take part in training under the guidance of the U.K.’s Royal Navy. In addition to Ukraine and Great Britain, “ships and vessels from the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Germany, and Denmark are participating in the exercises,” the Ukrainian navy said.

The training, which takes place in waters near Scotland, aims to help tactical demining action groups to achieve synergy and gain experience of acting in an international environment during joint multinational naval operations.

QUICK HIT: Royal Swedish Navy helicopters can now hunt submarines at night and in bad weather, Naval News reports.

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NEW TECH FOR GERMANY: Germany’s Bundeswehr announced that it is procuring four new SeaCat underwater drones from Atlas Elektronik. The drones will work in tandem with Germany’s Type 332 Frankenthal-class minehunters. According to the Bundeswehr, Atlas Elektronik will deliver the first SeaCat by the end of 2024; the Navy expects to have the drone in service by the spring of 2025.

MORE CONNECTED AND BETTER LOGISTICS: Those are the goals that the European Defense Agency says will be driving Europe’s defense agenda by 2040 and beyond. In a report out Monday, the EDA looks at how new technologies will roil warfare over the next two decades as part of efforts to focus minds on the challenges and opportunities in play. Think of the 43 pages of findings as a pulse check on what’s keeping folks up at night within EU defense ministries and armies as well as in NATO policy circles.

Everything, everywhere: The study flags drones, autonomous robotic systems, software vision, and a congested electromagnetic spectrum as potential risks for military operations, along with blockchain, quantum technologies, and the need for greater situational awareness from space and in terms of cyber security.

Keep on paying: The key message is that investment in innovation must be sustained, said EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý. “One thing is certain: Maintaining technological supremacy through defense innovation is a strategic necessity,” he said.

Briefing notes: The findings will be discussed when EU defense ministers meet for an EDA steering board meeting on November 14.

THANKS TO: Jan Cienski and Zoya Sheftalovich.

**A message from ASD: Defence innovation is increasingly driven by technologies developed for the civilian market, from AI and microelectronics to quantum and robotics. To remain at the cutting edge, the defence sector must therefore constantly monitor, evaluate, adapt, and integrate civil research and technology. This poses certain challenges, as defence and civil innovation often follow different logics, move at different speeds, involve different communities, and are addressed by different policies. It is therefore essential to foster ‘synergies by design’ between relevant civil and defence instruments and policies.**