Britain and Germany signed a landmark defence agreement on Wednesday and pledged to co-operate on exercises on NATO's eastern flank as they stressed the need for Europe to be able to defend itself given possible escalation in the war in Ukraine.

Officials say German submarine-hunting planes will patrol the North Atlantic from a base in Scotland under a new Britain-Germany defense pact in response to the growing threat from Russia

Britain and Germany will sign a defence agreement on Wednesday, the first of its kind between Europe's two biggest spenders on defence, which includes a commitment to develop new deep-strike weapons.