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“Il n’y a pas de liberte, il n’y a pas d’egalite, il n’y a pas de fraternite sans securite.” —French President Nicolas Sarkozy

In June 2007, “France’s Sarkozy Softening on Defense After Electoral Stumble” covered debate around France’s future armed forces, and apparent backtracks in his campaign position regarding future defense spending. In July 2007, President Sarkozy put together a group that was tasked it with creating a White Paper to define France’s future defense policy. The last time an exercise of this type had been conducted was in 1994.

That group has now returned with its report, and on June 17/08, President Sarkozy made a speech outlining the key elements of that future direction. The decisions made will change the shape of French defense spending, and will launch an attempt to implement an interlocking set of procurement, infrastructure, and political reforms and changes.

Key decisions and statements included…

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FRES-U finalists: There
can be only one…
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Many of Britain’s army vehicles are old and worn, and the necessities of hard service on the battlefield are only accelerating that wear. The multi-billion pound “Future Rapid Effects System” (FRES) aims to recapitalize the core of Britain’s armored vehicle fleet over the next decade or more, filling many of the same medium armor roles as the Stryker Family of armored wheeled vehicles and/or the Future Combat Systems’ Manned Ground Vehicle family. Current estimates indicate a potential requirement for over 3,700 FRES vehicles, including utility and reconnaissance variants. Even so, one should be cautioned that actual numbers bought usually fall short of intended figures for early-stage defense programs.

The FRES program was spawned by the UK’s withdrawal from the German-Dutch-UK Boxer MRAV modular wheeled APC program, in order to develop a more deployable vehicle that fit Britain’s exact requirements. Those initial requirements were challenging, however, and experience in Iraq and Afghanistan led to decisions that removed a number of FRES requirements including weight. The UK MoD has taken some criticism for its selection of wheeled APCs as its FRES-U infantry fighting vehicle finalists, and even more criticism for making the Boxer MRAV one of those finalists after spending all that time and sterling on FRES development. The MoD is defending its choices, however, and has now declared a winner…

• FRES: The Program (Continue reading…) [updated]
• FRES: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
• Appendix 1 – The British Army’s Armored Vehicle Fleet, late 2006
• Appendix 2 – A New Procurement Approach: System House Challenges
• Appendix 3 – FRES: Key Challenges for the Contractors
• Appendix 4 – FRES Experiments: Electronic Architecture Contracts
• Appendix 5 – FRES Experiments: Vehicle-Related Contracts
  
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Galileo concept
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Large space projects with long lead times can be politically perilous. The USA’s Transformation Satellite Network (TSAT) aims to create a system that can deliver fiber cable class bandwidth to or from any point on the globe, using lasers as the space transmission backbone. Funding and technical progress issues have pushed the project back from its originally intended date of 2008-2009 to likely operation in 2014 or so – and doubts are emerging re: the entire $20+ billion project.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union is cooperating with China and other outside investors to replace the USA’s free Global Positioning System service with an alternative under their own control. Organizational issues and shortfalls in expected progress have pushed the “Galileo” project back from its originally intended operational date of 2008 to 2014 or so – and doubts have manifested in Europe re: the entire project, even as security issues around Chinese involvement and their forthcoming COMPASS satellite system persist.

The EU has decided to press on, however, and has gained initial-stage approval for its plan to finance the program with tax dollars instead of the expected private investments. Mindful of the pitfalls in this approach, however, they have decided to raid other EU accounts for over EUR 3 billion (about $5.35 billion) in funds, rather than asking for more money from member states. This has not gone over well in all quarters. Britain’s multi-party Parliamentary Transport committee, for example, released a stinging report that recommended scrapping Galileo unless key deliverables are met. The EU’s structure allowed it to brush those objections aside, however, and the organization is well on the way to approving the new arrangements and beginning to issue contracts. Meanwhile, key technical protocols are released for discussion, a second satellite is planned for launch in April 2008, and an influential American think-tank raises security and policy concerns that could have broad impacts on transatlantic defense industry relationships.

• What Is Galileo?
• “Eppur, Si Bloccare”: Trials & Tribulations
• Contracts and Key Events
• Appendix A: The EU Proposal – Going Forward ( ? )
• Appendix B: Additional Readings
• Appendix C: Additional Readings – The Security Dimension
  
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Watchkeeper 450
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“Will UAV Proliferation Create Unfriendly Skies for Other Aircraft?” addressed the critical issue of ‘deconfliction,’ as well as ‘swarming’ algorithms currently under development. Meanwhile, flying restrictions aimed at avoiding aerial collisions have put a serious crimp in the tactical usefulness of UAVs at the battalion level and below, as detailed in “Field Report on Raven, Shadow UAVs From the 101st.”

Deconfliction issues have also prevented civil UAV markets from reaching anything close to their full potential for border patrol, land surveying, et. al. Management is not impossible – for instance, the Hermes 450, which is the basis of Britain’s Watchkeeper Mk450 system, is now civil certified in Israel. Which is why a May 2007 EUR 500,000 (then about $672,000) European Defence Agency initiative could be significant…

• The EDA’s Goals
• Air for All
• Contracts and Events
  
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Tiger HAP & HAC
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A formal contract concerning an HAD version of Eurocopter’s Tiger scout/ attack helicopter was recently signed in Bonn, Germany between Eurocopter Tiger and OCCAR, a French/European organization for armament cooperation. This agreement supersedes the official launch ITP for the multi-role HAD (Helicoptere Appui Destruction) version of the Tiger, signed on December 8th, 2004 by France and Spain. It also set out initial procurement numbers for Spain. This was followed by the French DGA’s official announcement re: the restructuring of its own 80 helicopter order.

Eurocopter’s Tiger had always had a very odd setup in that it came in two seemingly incomplete versions (HAP and HAC/UHT), severely limiting its flexibility. The new Tiger HAD variant helps to rectify this, and has entered a new stage thanks to testing, and ancillary weapons orders from France and Spain…

• Tiger Species: HAP, HAC-UHT, ARH, and HAD [updated]
• Contracts & Related Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

In December 2005, “UK Warns USA Over ITAR Arms Restrictions” and “ITAR Fallout: Britain to Pull Out of F-35 JSF Program?” seemed to herald a very difficult period in Anglo-American defense relations. Despite the promises of 2 successive American Presidents, the ITAR exemptions that Britain had sought remained blocked in America’s legislature – and European initiatives to resume defense exports to China were not improving the situation. Meanwhile, MPs in Britain were becoming very insistent on a fix. DID’s articles explained the nature of America’s ITAR arms export restrictions, the issues at play, and the stakes.

In time, many of these issues were worked out. In August 2006, the US and UK reached a technology transfer agreement concerning the F-35 fighter – an agreement that would serve as a model for other F-35 industrial partners. By December 2007, Tier 1 partner Britain had signed the F-35’s Production, Sustainment & Follow On Development MoU.

A broader fix was still on the agenda, however, and in July 2007 it materialized as a a treaty that would change the way the American and British defense firms cooperate on defense programs. The treaty is progressing toward ratification in Britain, but some key details remain to be worked out. Those details are likely to matter a great deal to the American side in particular. This Spotlight article aims to act as a one-stop briefing that explains the treaty’s motivation, key terms, and outstanding issues; keeps track of ongoing developments; and links to the key documents…

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The EU’s European Defense Agency has been busy during its short lifetime, attempting to create more transparent competition with fewer set-asides in European defense spending, consolidate national programs into international ones, work to develop technology and standards for UAV civil certification, and get some level of agreement regarding future areas of defense investment. Now a deal reached on Nov 19/07 will see the EDA budget take a significant jump from EUR 22 million (2007) to EUR 32 million in 2008. France had pushed to give the agency a 3-year budget, but Britain vetoed the proposal. A Reuters report quotes a senior British official as saying that “We don’t back a budget without seeing what we are paying for….”

The ministers pointed to “existing gaps” in strategic transport (NATO C-17 and the delayed A400M programs), force protection, and intelligence (vid. AGS et. al.) as key focus areas they hope the EDA will pursue. The ministers also set a series of “collective but voluntary” pledges, as part of a “framework for a joint Strategy on Defence Research & Technology.” Pledges include grow spending on new equipment from 19.4% to 20%, growing spending on multinational programs from 21% to 35%, and growing spending on R&D from 1.2% to 2%, with collaborative R&D spending doubling from 10% of that to 20%. Even so, those pledges to “spend more, spend better and spend more together,” are only useful if they are backed by action. This is an issue that has been a complaint in other venues as well, amidst future projections that show overall spending dropping or holding steady over the next 7 years. EDA release | EDA head report to the Council [PDF format] | eu Council 2008 Guidelines for the EDA [PDF format] | EU Observer story | DID multi-link Spotlight Article: “EU Procurement Challenges & Defense Weakness Debated (updated)”.

Eurofighter, Spain
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Aviation Week’s Ares reports that The European Parliament will vote on including military aviation in the EU’s greenhouse gas emission trading scheme (ETS) during its plenary session in Strasbourg, France, this week. Military aircraft were not originally included, but an amendment to the draft legislation calls for flights performed by military aircraft to be included in the ETS unless they are “part of an international mission.”

If the aircraft are included, the cost of purchasing emissions credits would be added to the price of training flights and other military activities – presumably including local disaster relief, unless this too was exempted.

Amusingly, the Green party has criticized the European Parliament itself for the emissions its members and staff cause, by moving back and forth from Brussels and Strasbourg to hold plenary sessions.

VIVACE Logo

VIVACE is a very large research & technology project funded by the European Commission that was launched in January 2004, grouping 63 companies and research institutions from the aerospace sector to improve 7 key areas of the product development process, providing solutions in “Design Simulation”, “Virtual Testing”, “Design Optimisation”, “Business and Supply Chain Modelling”, “Knowledge Management”, “Decision Support” and “Collaboration in the Extended and Virtual Enterprise”. By using the latest innovations in advanced simulation and modeling techniques, it hopes to provide the means to improve knowledge about the product prior to its physical development, reducing development costs, shortening time to market, and improving product quality.

If European aerospace firms can incorporate these advantages, the thinking goes, they will be in a better position to maintain their global competitiveness. By creating shared learnings among many companies, meanwhile, the research creates a common base of knowledge and practices among its participants, improving the odds that they will be on the same page managerially and technically as well. A level of commonality that is crucial, if the full gains of the research are intended to extend beyond any one firm’s supply chain.

Airbus has put out a release, stating its belief that its co-ordination of the VIVACE project has produced significant results. The final results of VIVACE were presented at a public Forum held in Toulouse from 17th to 19th October, and further background is available online as a 25 MB book.

Europe
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Analyst firm Forecast International’s “Europe Market Overview” offers a less-than-optimistic view of Europe’s status as a defense market, and provide very relevant background to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ Oct 25/07 speech at the Conference of European Armies. Forecast International:

“Currently only four dual EU-NATO members have military budgets that allocate the NATO minimum requisite of 2 percent of annual GDP for defense: France, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Romania…. Greece – typically one of the bigger defense spenders in Europe – is reining in its budget, bringing it down to 1 percent of GDP or less through 2015. Forecast International projects that, by 2011, total defense spending across the European continent will amount to just under $300 billion….

“What you have today is a Europe that seeks to project greater international involvement and security responsibility, whether through defensive measures in Afghanistan or humanitarian or peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, Kosovo and areas of Africa,” [Forecast International analyst Dan] Darling continues. “Yet these governments are asking more from their downsized militaries while providing less by way of defense appropriations…. So long as Europe’s public at large lacks the perception of a distinct security threat, raising defense spending will not be an immediate concern in European capitals, thus forcing governments to confront hard choices.”...”

Tag: EuroForecast