KINGDOMS TO BEGIN "JOINED UP DEFENCE POLICY" Following a series of meetings between the High Commands of both the Ui Cenneslaig and Cantabrian militaries the two monarchs, King Finley of Ui Cenneslaig and Queen Cait of Cantabria, have reached an arrangement where the two Kingdoms will have what is being described as "Joined up Defence Policy." The outcome of the talks were summed up by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence of Ui Cenneslaig who said. "What has been, for now informally, agreed is the provision between ever merging arrangements between the two militaries. In 2032 Princess Esmerelda of Cantabria will marry Prince Keane of the Cenneg and then hopefully much much later each will become monarch of their respective nations effectively forming the nations into a single unit. Now while the exact relationship at that point in history is to be determined it is clear that we shall have a situation where the two nations will share a bond very much closer than we have today. One of the elements that would, if needed, take longest to bring into line between the two nations is matters of defence and so with one eye on the long term we have begun steps towards doing what is best for both nations." A series of measures was then announced.
First the two nations have agreed moving forward that any new acquisitions within their militaries will be jointly procured. This for example means when the ageing Cenneg strike fighter "Bruion" reaches the end of its serviceable life a replacement aircraft will be one that shall also be utilised by the Cantabria military. It is hoped that in this manner the interoperability of the two militaries increases and should the need arise the two sides are already familiar with the equipment of the neighbour. The government also hope that this will also help keep development costs low as it will be spread between two nations.
The second agreement will see large scale exchanges of manpower. While this currently takes place it only sees a handful of commissioned officers visit the neighbouring nations military each year. Under the new arrangement whole Battalions will exchange with the first being a Battalion of the King's Highlanders from Ui Cenneslaig swapping with a Battalion of Royal Guardsman from Cantabria. The exchange will last six months and allow the nations to gain first hand experience of working alongside each other for prolonged periods.
The third thing announced today would be that from 2025 a joint Officer Training College will be established for each branch of service meaning that both nations Officers shall train side by side. This is hoped to ensure that in the long run the nations military will be well known to each other and also share common tactics and doctrines making any combat actions featuring both nations easier to manage for senior officers.
The final announcement concerned airspace . Under a new agreement Cenneg and Cantabria aircraft will share a common Air Traffic Control area and will be free to operate inside the others airspace should this Control Area direct them. This would essentially mean that should a Cenneg patrol be able to respond quicker to a threat to Cantabria airspace it may fly through Cantabria without lengthy discussions. IN addition to this the two Kingdom's Air Defence systems, which can already peer into each others nations, will be used as a single system.
The news was meet with largely favourable but mixed responses. One politician in Cantabria stated, "It makes sense. We have a small military while our cousins have a huge one. There is no way we could defend ourselves in isolation against say an invasion from the SICR and now we have that ability as essentially the first line of defence, the air defences, sensors etc from the Cenneg will bolster our own. We struggle to balance budgets like most nations and this may well save us considerable money as we can tap into several of the newer Cenneg projects." However there were voices against the move including a member of the Cantabrian Republican Party who stated, "We never know what will happen in the world and having a well trained and independent military is vital. Today we have essentially begun merging the military and this could lead us to be in less control of our fate moving forwards."
The King of Ui Cennesliag, King Finley, however was more concerned with the move for the CNN partnership "We have no intention to withdraw from the CNN. Our military is still a Cenneg military. We will still work ccooperatively with the friends from Lodja, East Moreland and the Iwi. What we have done is merely look at a way of better protecting our little part of West Ardia. We shall still contribute towards joint CNN projects such as the Jumper VLS system that we are bringing into our military in the coming months. We will not make that equipment available to Cantabria unless we get approval from our CNN partners who own 25% of the design rights each. It is my hope however that the CNN will see Canabria is going to move ever closer to our Kingdom and that they will be as friendly to them as we are."
Two hours after the announcement Queen Cait of Cantabria announced that in the coming days she shall be contacting the monarchs of the Iwi, Lodja and East Moreland to seek permission for procurement of some CNN funded developments as well as inviting members of their military to attend "a friendly gathering" in Cantabria.