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Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Leeuwarden Air Base in The Netherlands is currently hosting the large-scale international exercise Frisian Flag 2019. Freelance photographer and reporter Edwin Schimmel visited Leeuwarden and here’s his report for The Aviationist. Frisian Flag is a [...]

The dates will be confirmed after the elections to the European Parliament in May 2019.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

Since 2016, the European Union has developed a number of new initiatives on security and defence. In particular, the introduction of Permanent Structured Cooperation and the European Defence Fund have been designed to allow the EU to become a more autonomous actor with regard to crisis management, capacity building and protecting Europe and its citizens. Yet the development of these new initiatives raises questions about
their overall coherence and the role of parliamentary scrutiny. It is necessary to analyse the role of the European Parliament and national parliaments in relation to the scrutiny of the European Defence Fund. There is a need for recommendations on how parliamentary scrutiny can be enhanced at the EU level in the area of security and defence.
Further information
Full study
Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

What an incredible footage of the 302nd Squadron Phantoms! On Mar. 19, 2019, the 302nd Squadron of the Japan Air Self Defense Force made its last flight with the F-4EJ “Kai” Phantom. The 302nd was [...]

Last week, a kick-off meeting was held at EDA to launch the contractual work on the Cyber Defence Situation Awareness Package Rapid Research Prototype (CySAP-RRP) project, in the presence of representatives of the three contributing Member States:  Spain (lead country), Germany and Italy. The industry consortium in charge of the project (INDRA Sistemas SA, Leonardo S.p.a and Fraunhofer) provided Member States with an overview of the project management plan describing tasks, milestones and project deliverables. 

The project was conceived as the first step of a spiral development in order to set up a full Cyber Situation Awareness operational capability. The CySAP-RRP will be built upon previous work done by EDA to develop a Target Architecture and System Requirements for an enhanced Cyber Defence Situation Awareness Capability. 

The core objectives of the project include essential research challenges to assist military decision-makers in cyberspace and to set the basis for a fully-fledged Command and Control (C2) system for cyber operations. 

CySAP is at the forefront of technology development with the aim of obtaining a common and standardized cyber defence planning and management functional area service. The research challenges are to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cyber defence elements in the planning and conduct phase of military operations in which cyberspace is now recognised and treated as any other domain such as land, air or maritime. 

Under the framework of EDA, the three Member States participating in CySAP agreed a common set of requirements and a Target Architecture for the capability. CySAP follows a modular approach allowing  to have a flexible set of functionalities by exercising a system engineering process. Current market available solutions for cyber situational awareness do not meet the entire spectrum of military requirements such as risk analysis, cyber related Courses of Action (CoA) development and assessment as well as support to decision-making. CySAP will provide situational analysis that can be integrated into the overall common operational picture of a mission, as a cyber information layer able to provide timely and accurate situational awareness. CySAP is set to obtain innovative solutions by joining efforts of leading defence industries and researchers in Europe.

The architectural design comprises several spirals to be completed in the next years subject to future investments. The possibility to introduce CySAP follow-on activities into PESCO or the EDIDP are currently explored and assessed. The next progress review meeting is scheduled for September 2019 in Spain. 

Background

The updated EU Capability Development Plan (CDP) endorsed by the EDA Steering Board in June 2018 reconfirmed cyber defence as a priority for capability development in the EU. The CDP recognises the need for defensive cyber operations in any operational context, based on sophisticated current and predictive cyberspace situational awareness. This includes the ability to combine large amounts of data and intelligence from numerous sources in support of rapid decision making and increased automation of the data gathering, analysis and decision-support process. 

In November 2018, the European Council adopted an updated version of the EU cyber defence policy framework (CDPF).  Supporting the development of Member States’ cyber defence capabilities is a priority area where the now established CySAP project serves as a core to guide future research and operational capabilities.

‘Locked Shields’, the world’s biggest and most advanced international cyber defence exercise involving life-fire attacks, is organized annually by NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE) in Tallinn. This year’s edition will take place from 9-12 April with some 1,000 experts from around 30 nations participating. EDA will support the strategic track part of the exercise.  

The exercise will see a Red team (based in Tallinn) attacking Blue Teams made up by CCD COE member states (based at exercise locations in their capitals) who will act as national rapid reaction teams deployed to assist a fictional country in handling large-scale cyber incidents and all their multiple implications. The main task of the Blue Teams is to protect and maintain their services and networks against these life attacks. Besides countering the technical attacks, information sharing, teamwork and cooperation will also be key aspects to be tested in this exercise. 

With its rich expertise and experience gained from several strategic decision-making exercises organised with Member States over recent years, EDA will support the ‘Locked Shields 2019 Strategic Track’, a parallel, table-top decision-making exercise track playing in the same fictitious, sovereign state under severe cyber-attacks from an aggressive neighbour. Participating Blue Teams will act as rapid reaction teams and advisors. High-level cyber/hybrid crisis management and legal decisions have to be made in accordance with national, EU, NATO and UN regulations by those Blue Teams. The roles of NATO, EU and UN will be played by a “White Team”, including EDA.
 

More information: 

• Cyber Defence (EDA project page)
• NATO CCD COE (Locked Shields page)
  
  

A Kalibr cruise missile has been successfully test fired for the first time from a Russian submarine moored in a port. The test launch of the Novator 3M-14 Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles from the Project 885 Yasen-class submarine Severodvinsk was reported by Russian newspaper Izvestia , citing

The ILS850 million (USD237 million) acquisition of Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) manufacturer Aeronautics by state-owned Israeli defence group Rafael and businessman Avichai Stolero has been approved by Aeronautic’s board of directors. Rafael and Stolero initially bid ILS430 million

Elbit Systems of America has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Harris’ night vision business for USD350 million in cash. The sale is a condition of the planned merger between Harris and L3 Technologies who announced in October 2018 that they were pursuing an all-stock merger to

The French Air Force and French Navy (Marine Nationale: MN), supported by the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), have completed initial technical and operational evaluation firings of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) on the Dassault Rafale

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook emphasised on 2 April that the US was aiming to cut oil “purchases” from Iran, rather than exports. The US appears willing to allow Iran to barter its oil for permitted goods, but not to receive cash for its oil. Moreover, Hook stated that he

Brazil’s IACIT has developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) jammer for military use called DroneBlocker that can block small to medium-sized aircraft in multiple ways, according to a company official. Henrique Nobre, IACIT general manager for sales and marketing, told Jane’s on 4

Australia has invested nearly AUD53 million (USD37 million) on a deployable computer network to improve information sharing during operations with the other four members of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance, Minister for Defence Industry Linda Reynolds disclosed on 4 April.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has given further details of its proposed Voronezh strategic early warning radar station to be built in Crimea, the Izvestia news portal reported on 2 April. Plans for the radar site were first reported in 2017. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2019, for

SOFEMA presented an upgraded HADES20 20 mm gun at the Special Operations Forces Innovation Network Seminar (SOFINS) exhibition, held at Camp de Souge, near Bordeaux, on 2–4 April. Specialists in refurbishing and upgrading decommissioned military equipment, SOFEMA has bought all 100 French Air

Thales showed a Hawkei tactical vehicle with its induction rocket launcher for four ready-to-fire 68 mm guided or unguided rockets during the 2019 Special Operations Forces Innovation Network Seminar (SOFINS) exhibition, held at Camp de Souge, France, on 2–4 April. The launcher is installed

The UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the UK’s defence industry, pledging to help boost productivity with a newly signed Vision 2025 initiative. Minister for defence procurement Stuart Andrew signed the joint Vision 2025 document with representatives of industry on 3

Key Points Elbit Systems of America is getting closer to its first flight of refurbished Grumman C-1A aircraft for the Brazilian Navy The aircraft is getting a total overhaul with new avionics, auxiliary power units, and communication systems Elbit Systems of America (ESA) is targeting September

The upgraded Mi-26T2V heavy military transport helicopter has successfully completed preliminary flight testing, Russian Helicopters, part of the Rostec state corporation, confirmed on 3 April. “The machine is being prepared for a handover to the Russian Ministry of Defence [MoD] to do joint