Defence`s Feeds

EVENT Fighting in western Libya has diminished in intensity in recent weeks, as local councils and tribal elders implement a series of bilateral peace accords. Leaders from Misratah, Sabratha, and Zliten agreed to cease fighting as of 16 June. Other notable deals include a peace agreement between

The US Navy (USN) has taken its first step on the road to acquiring a non-developmental over-the-horizon (OTH) weapon system to meet the requirements of its Frigate (FF) modified Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme. Releasing a request for information (RfI) to industry on 15 June 2015, the Naval

Northrop Grumman is making further efforts to enhance collaboration with Australian suppliers in a bid to expand its footprint in the national defence market. The US corporation said on 17 June that it has recently held a series of meetings in Washington with Australian defence industry suppliers

At least 38 civilians were killed in attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants targeting the villages of Lamana and Ungumawo in the Gueskerou area of Niger's Diffa region, close to the border with Nigeria, late on 17 June. According to local officials cited by Reuters, the attackers drove into the

The Algerian newspaper El Watan , citing unnamed security officials, reported on 17 June that a senior commander of jihadist group Jamaat Tawhid wal-Jihad fi Gharb Afriqa (better known by its French acronym MUJAO), Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi (alias Abu Walid Sahraoui), had been wounded in armed clashes

Spain has now lifted a suspension on flights by production models of the Airbus A400M transport that was introduced on 11 May. The grounding was ordered by the Defence Airworthiness Authority, the Directorate-General of Armament and Equipment (DGAM) at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) two days after

Unidentified militants opened fire on the governor of the Gerishk district of Afghanistan's Helmand province during an attack in the district on 17 June, killing two of the governor's bodyguards but leaving him unharmed, the BBC reported. No immediate claim of responsibility was made.

The US Army has taken another step towards buying a new XM17 Modular Handgun System (MHS), and announced on 17 June that a draft solicitation was released to industry. Programme specifications have continued to evolve - the army is hosting its fourth industry day on 7-8 July to evolve them further

Data Link Solutions (DLS) has secured a contract from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to produce, develop, and sustain multifunctional information distribution system joint tactical radio systems (MIDS JTRS) terminals.

Schiebel has conducted flight demonstrations of its Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) to display the multi-sensor capability of the system to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

The US Navy's Kearsarge amphibious ready group (KSGARG) and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are conducting the KSGARG / MEU exercise (ARGMEUEX) in the waters east of the US.

The US Navy's Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) has drydocked the Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Annapolis (SSN 760), for maintenance work and several system upgrades.

British Westland Sea King Anti-Submarine Warfare Helicopter

By providing remote aid operations with improved access to information, iOra's Geo-Replicator helps Christian Aid be more agile and responsive to local needs enabling it to deliver more effective development work worldwide.

The German Navy has formally qualified the Saab Dynamics/Diehl Defence RBS15 Mk 3 anti-ship missile following a successful operational flight test off the coast of Sweden. Performed from the K130 corvette Magdeburg on 28 April 2015, the end-to-end test - undertaken on the Swedish Defence Materiel

Russian defence company KBM officially unveiled its new-generation 9K333 Verba (Willow) manportable air defence system (MANPADS) during the Army-2015 international forum and declared for the first time that it has been cleared for export sales. "The export of Verbas is permitted and we have

Israeli unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) house, Aeronautics, unveiled its initial offering for the loitering weapon systems market - the Orbiter 1K (Kingfisher) - at the 2015 Paris Air Show. Currently in the final stages of development, Orbiter 1K (Kingfisher) is derived from Aeronautics'

EVENT The US and Lithuanian governments signed an agreement on 17 June, setting the terms of the proposed stationing of US forces and weapons on Lithuanian soil to facilitate the United States-funded upgrade of the Lithuanian military infrastructure (specifically, the Siauliai airbase, Rukla

Athena Administrator Hans-Werner Grenzhäuser today signed the declaration to join the EU SatCom Market, an ad hoc project of the European Defence Agency.

Speaking about the cooperation, Hans-Werner Grenzhäuser said: “As part of the ongoing efforts to improve the procurement process of the different operations, I am convinced that Athena will benefit from its participation in this already existing mechanism with several other EU Member States being able to pool the purchase of satellite communications and related services through the European Defence Agency.”

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq added: “With Athena now part of the EU SatCom Market project, CSDP military operations will benefit from an easier procurement process thanks to the framework already in place, instead of using ad hoc outsourcing. The foreseen additional use of this pooled procurement initiative will increase the pooling and sharing effect, while making the project more attractive to the service providers.”

EU SatCom Market

Within the EU SatCom Market project, EDA acts as the central purchasing body on behalf of the contributing members. It purchases the services from a commercial provider. Airbus Defence & Space holds the current contract. Since May 2013, more than 20 orders have been placed for a total value of almost €4 million. So far, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the United Kingdom are part of the EU SatCom Market.

The project uses a ‘pay-per-use’ model, so members do not have to contribute with a regular fee, instead they only pay for what they order. Under the arrangement with Athena all present and future EU-led military operations will be able to draw this option to cover their SatCom requirements.

The Athena Mechanism

Athena is the mechanism established to administer the financing of the common costs of European Union operations having military or defence implications governed by Council Decision 2015/528/CFSP. The Council Decision allows for arrangements to be signed with union bodies to facilitate procurement in operations in the most cost-effective manner.

More information

• News: "EDA signs cooperation arrangement with Athena" (2 March 2015)
• EU SatCom Market project page
• Operations Support project page

 

 

The European Commission has recently set up a high level group of politicians, academics, think tankers and CEOs from research technology organisations and defence industry to advise on how the EU can support defence research programmes relevant to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Working on a tasking from the December 2013 European Council, the European Defence Agency is bringing its expertise to this work strand through the organisation of workshops with the Commission and the discussion of modalities related to the future Pilot Project on CSDP Research.

The High-level Group is chaired by Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska and supported by the High Representative, Commission Vice-President and Head of the European Defence Agency Federica Mogherini – who has been represented by EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq in the Group of Personalities. It is expected to make recommendations for a long-term vision for EU-funded CSDP-related defence research in support of European defence cooperation.

While the Group will report in full in early 2016, it offers now the following considerations as a preliminary contribution in the run up to the June 2015 European Council.

Official Statement by the Group of Personalities on defence research

 

The EU's security role and the need for a strong EDTIB

To ensure its long-term security, the EU and its Member States need political will and determination underpinned by a broad set of relevant instruments, including strong and modern military capabilities. These will enable the EU to live up to its responsibilities as a security provider and to be a relevant and reliable partner at global level. Investing today in future-oriented defence research programmes is crucial to developing the capabilities that will be required tomorrow.

It is widely recognised that Europe needs to retain robust military capabilities in its Member States, which, however, can no longer afford to sustain a full range of defence industrial assets on a purely national basis. Years of defence spending cuts by EU countries risk producing a net loss of combined military and industrial capabilities. And while defence-related research is pivotal in maintaining the technological edge that ensures military advantage, European investment in defence R&D has declined by more than 29 % since 2006 – and by more than 27 % in R&T.

The European defence industry needs therefore to become more integrated and more sustainable in order to maintain critical mass and global competitiveness, to remain an equal and attractive partner internationally, and to generate the key defence technologies needed to ensure Europe’s long-term operational autonomy. A common understanding of the capability-driven research areas that should be developed cooperatively - and of the ways to identify and select them - will be required, taking into account all existing processes at EU level.

The role of future collaborative programmes in addressing capability gaps

Cooperative defence research programmes will clearly be essential for sustaining and fostering key military capabilities in Europe and addressing well-known shortfalls. Currently, however, only 8% of national defence budgets are spent on collaborative projects.

The Preparatory Action and its follow-on programme can contribute significantly to the development of crucial military capabilities for Europe and help ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of the European defence industrial sector - from prime contractor level through to SMEs - thus also underpinning the Union’s long-term security.

The Preparatory Action should therefore pave the way to a substantial and ambitious CSDP-related defence research programme in the next EU multi-annual funding framework, thus making a quantitative and qualitative difference to the current situation and demonstrating the added value of a permanent EU scheme.

Key principles for EU-funded CSDP-related defence research

The future research programme must be clearly defence-oriented, coherent with and complementary to existing national defence research efforts, and must take fully into account the unique aspects of the defence sector in its governance principles and modalities.

It must help address specific capability needs stemming from the evolving security environment, avoid duplications, and catalyse collaborative research efforts.

The Preparatory Action needs to properly test the effectiveness and relevance of EU-funded defence research and the appropriateness of the proposed governance model. As such, it should be endowed with appropriate and credible means – preferably up to the maximum budget allowed by the legal framework.

Members

• Fernando Abril-Martorell, CEO Indra;
• Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs;
• Antoine Bouvier, CEO MBDA;
• Håkan Buskhe, CEO of Saab;
• Paul de Krom, former secretary of State for Social Affairs and Employment, President and CEO of TNO, a Dutch organization of applied scientific research
• Tom Enders, CEO Airbus Group;
• Michael Gahler, MEP, EP rapporteur for Commission's communication on defence;
• Elisabeth Guigou, President of the Foreign Affairs Commission in l'Assamblée Nationale, former Minister of European Affairs, of Justice and of Employment;
• Ian King, Chief Executive BAE Systems;
• Bogdan Klich, former Minister of Defence, member of Polish Senate;
• Mauro Moretti, CEO Finmeccanica;
• Reimund Neugebauer, President of the "Frauenhofer-Gesellschaft", application-oriented research organisation;
• Arndt Schoenemann, Managing Director of Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, Chairman of ASD Supply Chain and SME Group;
• Teija Tiilikainen, Director of Finnish Institute of International Affairs;
• Nick Witney, former EDA Chief Executive, senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

More information

• Link to release on DG GROW's website
• Link to EEAS website