The European defense integration front has been a blizzard of activity lately. Contributions include a European Parliament report, another from the well-regarded Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), comments from NATO’s supreme commander that could see the alliance’s immediate concerns extend to Russian pipelines and the Gulf of Guinea, and a report from senior NATO generals regarding Europe’s defense future and spending needs.
Raytheon and its European partner EADS are hoping that the Army’s Future Cargo Aircraft program will be decided with an emphasis for cargo space – something their CN-235s and C-295s have in great abundance. Competitor L-3 Communications, along with its own European partner Alenia, is pushing its C-27J, a more powerful plane but one that is attached to a shorter cargo bay.
Political efforts are underway to integrate the European defense industry. As one might expect, these efforts are most politically controversial in Britain, which has substantial defense industry ties to the USA as well.
A recent article in The Sunday Telegraph illustrates some of the political tensions and procurement issues that must inevitably accompany these efforts. It highlights broader trends that will accompany these integration efforts throughout Europe.
The European Commission has issued a news release noting that a proposed transaction, in which German defense firm Rheinmetall will take over EHG Elektroholding’s 50% shareholding in AIM, has been approved under EU Merger Regulations.
The purchase will be administered by SSM in a single package for both military and civilian helicopters, and bidders are asked to reply to a request for proposa1 no later than Dec. 5.
Galileo Industries and the European Space Agency (ESA), both in charge of the global architecture of the EUR 3.2B ($4.2B) European Galileo satellite system, have chosen Thales’ advanced security expertise to specify and design the security policy for the EU’s Galileo satellite project. Security requirements include communications security, which entails protecting networks and signals; authentication and access control for each level of service; data confidentiality and integrity control; and attack prevention. Contract figures were not announced.
Intended for civilian and commercial users as well as government applications, Galileo must ensure optimum security at all levels to achieve complete and reliable service. The EU is hoping Galileo will provide an alternative to the Pentagon-controlled Global Positioning System (GPS), and also tap a growing worldwide demand for satellite communications that it believes may be worth as much as EUR 300 billion by 2020. See Thales release, and all DID coverage of the Galileo Program.
Nick Whitney, chief executive of the EU’s European Defense Agency, is calling for a radical overhaul of how member states spend their defense budgets, stressing interoperability and the need to avoid duplication. He believes there is a growing awareness by the 25 member states that their combined EUR 180 billion, or USD $218 billion annual defense expenditures could be used more efficiently. Strategic airlift, logistics, and communications are seen as particular weaknesses.
According to the International Herald Tribune, Whitney, a former senior official at Britain’s Ministry of Defense who now works under EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, has set four main tasks for the Union:
Back on March 2/05, DID covered the EU’s inability to render a decision on bids for the EUR 3.2B ($4.2B) Galileo satellite navigation system. Instead, it asked the Eurely and iNavSat consortia to resubmit bids for a final selection within three months. This has now happened, with a twist: the consortia merged and presented a single bid. EADS SPACE Services, Inmarsat, and Thales joined from iNavSat, while Aena, Alcatel, Finmeccanica SpA, and Hispasat joined from the Eurely venture.
This would seem to end the wrangling, except that Galileo’s largest financier is now unhappy.
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is fitting two new Type-209MOD submarines for Portugal’s navy with the latest fuel cell propulsion equipment, which allows the non-nuclear attack submarines to have a quieter profile and run while submerged for far longer periods. The order is worth EUR 58 million, and the contract also includes a EUR 23 million option for the same equipment to be built into a third submarine. Handover of the submarines to the Portuguese navy is scheduled to begin in 2009 or 2010.
OCCAR (the Joint Armaments Cooperation Organisation) and Thales have announced the signing of a production contract worth EUR 236 million for 18 Eurocopter Tiger combat helicopter simulators. It calls for the supply of 9 full-flight mission simulators and 9 trainers, plus associated support systems and an option for a further 11 simulators.
