Europe’s Air Transport Command Agreements

Latest updates[?]: Pooling is farther away than they'd like, but closer than you think. EATC: Behind the scenes in Mali; EU EDA's Parallel EATF program added.

One of the driving forces behind Airbus’ A400M military transport program, and of “pool” programs like NATO’s SALIS with Russian AN-124s or its recent SAC C-17 pool, is Europe’s shortage of transport aircraft to support military missions. This shortage will not be fixed any time soon. In the interim, NATO pools are about to be augmented by a more local partnership.

As the Netherlands struggled over proposed defense cuts in 2007, its Ministerie van Defensie signed an agreement with Germany, France and Belgium to create “European Air Transport Command” (EATC) as a coordination pool for their own military transports. The EU EDA also has a parallel program with much wider participation, the European Air Transport fleet (EATF). EATF offers a step short of EADC level integration, while laying the foundation for wider EADC membership in future. They’re farther away than they’d like to be, but probably closer than you think…

Rapid Fire Feb. 4, 2013: (Some) Germans Want UCAVs

• German defense minister Thomas de Maizière confirmed [video in German] that his country would seek armed UAVs. In response to earlier leaks in the press, some German politicians had voiced strong opposition to the Bundeswehr’s intent to use UCAVs, on legal and ethical grounds. De Maizière insisted that the decision to use weapons would remain under human control.

• This issue is a topic of heated debate in Germany in part because critics find the federal government lacks transparency in the way it communicates with the public about arms exports, inviting suspicion that the government is not entirely honest in such matters. The yearly report [PDF in German] issued by the Ministry for the Economy and Technology does not detail specific programs and vendors. After a record 2010, armament exports from Germany dropped to less than 1.3 billion euros, the lowest level since 2004.

• Cassidian CEO Bernhard Gerwert says he intends to grow cyber security and armed UAV sales in Europe, but would like the company to become more competitive outside of its home turf.