EDA News

Numerous technologies used and further developed in the defence domain have civil roots, and vice-versa: Additive Manufacturing (3D-printing), Gallium Nitride, Gallium Arsenide, Graphene, cyber and energy technologies are only a few examples. It makes therefore sense to bring the two sides closer together and promote synergies between them. This was also the objective of an EDA online workshop held this week under the Agency’s ANDES (ANalysis of Dual usE Synergies) project.

Launched in June 2020, the ANDES project aims at developing a Dual Use Technology Transfer Mechanism (DUT2M) to structurally enhance civil-military entanglements on innovation and R&T, for the benefit of both sides.  This week’s workshop, attended by more than 80 participants from 16 EDA Member States, EU institutions, industry, think tanks, academia and research centres, was particularly focused on discussing and defining the most appropriate and promising general framework future civil-military synergies. The main conclusion of the meeting was that there is increasing demand and need for enhancing spin-in/spin-off dynamics in advanced technologies, such as the electronic components, corrosion management or advanced materials. Europe-wide effort

The workshop comes only a week after the European Commission published its Action Plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. The plan lays the ground to deliver concrete policy actions under three headlines: - enhancing complementarity between relevant EU programmes and instruments to increase efficiency of investments and effectiveness of results (the ‘synergies’); - promoting that EU funding for research and development, including on defence and space, has economic and technological dividends for EU citizens (the ‘spin-offs’); - facilitating the use of civil industry research achievements and civil-driven innovation in European defence cooperation projects (the ‘spin-ins’). 

EDA’s ANDES project intends to support and promote those efforts by identifying valuable recommendations for the EU’s dual use policy, taking into account the present worldwide situation (e.g. relevant examples are USA and China). A particular focus is dedicated to the Dual Use Technology Transfer Mechanism: there are several possible models but the peculiarities of the defence ecosystem require a facilitator between the institutional stakeholders (e.g. European Commission, Ministries of Defence in Member States, EDA and other relevant EU bodies) on the one hand, and the industrial/academia/research community on the other hand. The ANDES workshop showed the active participation from the institutional/governmental and dual use stakeholders and led to the recognition that a structured EU dual use policy will be beneficial for the European defence and more generally for Europe’s economy, especially now as it is strongly affected by the covid-19 pandemic.

Way ahead

Before the completion of the ANDES project (scheduled for mid-2021), policy recommendations will be submitted to the project management board which, beyond EDA staff, also includes representatives from the European Commission and the European Parliament (think tank), with the objective to support future implementation actions in the EU dual use ecosystem.

More information

• EDA webnews on workshop on dual use technologies – components (June 2016)
• EDA assists dual use projects to access funding
• EDA fact sheet “European Structural Funds for dual-use research”
• European Council Conclusions December 2013 (point 18)

 

EDA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed to jointly explore, within their respective remits, all relevant technology and capability opportunities for the gradual evolution and development of Next-Generation Secure Satellite Communication (NGSSC) systems required for the benefit of their respective Member States, user communities and industry. To this end, a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) has just been signed by the two organisations.

The MOI will broaden up the existing ESA/EDA cooperation framed by the Administrative Agreement signed in 2011 and further substantiated by their joint efforts on Governmental Satellite Communications, subject of a dedicated Implementing Arrangement since 2017. Acknowledging the growing strategic importance of satellite communications in security and defence, including in support to Europe’s strategic autonomy, ESA and EDA take the view that additional cooperative steps should be taken to develop secure and resilient satellite communications which respond to Member States’ evolving needs, and also strengthen the competitiveness of the Europe’s industry. 

Secure Satellite Communications – NG SATCOM Infrastructure Exploratory System Studies 

Concretely, the plan is to coordinate both organisations’ activities with the aim of supporting ESA’s ongoing system studies on the Next Generation Satellite Communication solutions that aim in particular to identify systems architectures responding to a wide set of user requirements in the field of secure communications. EDA will be invited to take part in ESA’s study process to provide expertise, information, data and a channel to its user communities which may have a stake in ESA’s exploratory systems study.  Once the study results are available in the course of 2021, ESA and EDA will explore further coordinated steps related to towards the evolution and preparation of NGSSC systems. 

Both parties will also jointly look at how respective user communities may be best serviced, by exploring the relevance of user-segments such as EDA’s EU Satcom Market model and services, as well as EDA’s GOVSATCOM Pooling and Sharing Demonstration project. Furthermore, the two organisations will exploit this new framework to discuss relevant activities in support of EDA’s satellite communications work in the fields of security, guarantee of access and next generation of satellite communications requirements for EU defence, satellite communications training and standardisation. Considering the challenges and stakes, these activities will be synchronised and undertaken in full coordination and transparency with all relevant actors engaged in this domain. The Agencies will furthermore coordinate their views on proposals for GOVSATCOM-related projects in the framework of EU defence initiatives, such as PESCO and the European Defence Fund (EDF). Another objective of the new cooperation is to explore potential joint R&D efforts of relevance to the future implementation of a joint secured satellite communication vision and strategy. Finally, these joint activities will be supported by a security management plan that will cover future cooperation activities and high-level security objectives to be implemented in the context of this cooperation.

EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý welcomed the enhanced cooperation with ESA, stating: “Nowadays, neither national nor multinational military operations are anymore conceivable without the support of space-based systems, especially secure and resilient satellite communication, and their importance keeps growing. The Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), which delivered a first ever comprehensive defence review conducted at EU level, specifically underlined the importance of cooperation in space and identified the ‘Defence in Space’ as one of the most pressing, most needed and most impacting areas for cooperation and future investment in EU defence. Therefore, increased cooperation between ESA and EDA in this specific domain will not only be beneficial for our Member States and industry but also contribute to strengthening Europe’s defence capabilities”.

ESA Director General Jan Wörner said: “Over the years, our two Agencies have undertaken no less than eight formal cooperation projects, ranging across most space domains. Our partnership is solid and will support ESA Member States and help ensure a resilient civil infrastructure and robust services for citizens”. 

 

Over the past two days, EDA has organised the first ever live-fire cyber exercise specifically dedicated to improving European cooperation between Member States’ national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). The exercise gathered more than 200 experts from 17 EDA Member States and Switzerland, all of them connecting remotely from their working locations. The event marked the first practical part of the EU MilCERT Interoperability Conference 2021 (MIC), the second part of which will take place in June in Lille/France where the lessons learnt from the exercise and more strategic topics will be discussed.

The objective of this week’s exercise was to bring together military CERTs and observe incident management dynamics with a particular focus on information-sharing, a key factor in modern cyber defence. While European countries have come a long way in establishing mechanisms and processes to exchange information between civilian CERTs, such cooperation and communication channels are much less developed in the military domain, also due to the high sensitivity of the information. Faced with that, many stakeholders have expressed the need to extend the information sharing practices used in civilian circles also to military CERTs and their operations. The new EU Cybersecurity Strategy, released last December, highlighted that this initiative would contribute to significantly increase cooperation among Member States.
Building upon this background, the exercise goal was to experience and observe the dynamics of incident response during realistic live-fire cyber attacks and to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. The outcome and lessons learned from the exercise - as well as the potential follow-on actions required - will be discussed during the second part of the MIC in June in Lille. This part of the MIC will take place co-hosted by the “Forum International de la Cybersécurité”, a leading Cybersecurity event in Europe. Live cyber attacks  The operational environment created for the exercise is based on advanced Cyber Range technology, with professional attackers based in several Member States launching live cyberattacks against infrastructure defended by teams from other Member States. EDA has been active in Cyber Defence exercises for a long time and supports a multinational EU effort in the domain, the ‘Cyber Ranges Federation’ project started in 2014. The exercise also included some military-specific platforms as part of the simulation, including a drone control system and a space ground control station, to be defended from attacks.
The MIC exercise was specifically designed for military CERTs and included platforms, tools and technology specific to the military domain; the entire exercise scenario was conceived in such a way that it used military planning and strategy similar to what is used in real cyber military operations. The intent was not only to provide a realistic scenario, but also to push participants out of their comfort zone, asking them to use all tools, processes and procedures possible, even those not directly at hand in the exercise platform. This allowed for creating an unusually realistic exercise environment.  “Strengthen Europe’s resilience”

The exercise was opened on Wednesday by the Estonian Minister of Defence, Kalle Laanet, and EDA’s Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu. In this opening remarks, Minister Laanet stressed the importance of European cooperation in cyber defence because Member States all face the same or similar threats. “Today we can see that at the EU level civilian CERTs have established good community and their cooperation is improved continuously. However, military CERTs, which play vital role in cyber defence, are not communicating with the same methods. This is understandable considering the more sensitive information they are dealing with. Yet, despite these limitations, it is still important to offer opportunities for extending information-sharing practices. And this live-fire exercise does exactly that”, the Minister said.   He thanked EDA “without their visionary leadership this event would not have taken place”. The exercise allows to build teamwork at national levels and “will strengthen the resilience of the European societies and Europe as a whole”, the Minister said.  

EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu recalled that the Agency has been supporting Member States’ efforts to develop their cyber defence capabilities for a number of years. Today, EDA cyber activities range from defining key priorities at EU level looking at the capability development, R&T and industrial dimensions to facilitate the development of tangible capabilities (such as the Cyber Ranges Federation platform) and the adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and 5G. EDA also runs initiatives in support of Cyber Defence training, education and exercises, he said. “We are working in close cooperation with other EU institutions and agencies, including with ENISA, CERT-EU and the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in the framework of our quadrilateral Cyber Memorandum of Understanding. And we are also contributing to the EU-NATO cyber dialogue and cooperation in the context of the 2016 and 2018 Joint Declaration, working at different levels with the key cyber actors within the Alliance”, Mr Ruutu stressed. Cooperation between military CERTs is a top priority in EDA’s cyber defence programme as reflected in this exercise and the follow-on conference in Lille in June, he said.

 

The implementation of ARTUS, a project selected under the 2019 call for proposals for the EU Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) managed by EDA, was officially launched at an online kick-off meeting held on 10 February 2021. 

ARTUS stands for ‘Autonomous Rough-terrain Transport UGV Swarm’. The project, with a budget of approximately €1.5 million, was selected following an EU-wide PADR call for proposals on the topic of ‘Future Disruptive Defence Technologies - Emerging Game-changers’, sub-topic ‘Augmenting Soldier Capacity’. 

ARTUS aims at developing a technological feasibility concept and demonstrator for a small swarm of intelligent and autonomously operating Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to support infantry platoons during their missions. The supporting swarm will significantly augment their capacity by: providing substantially added payload for the entire equipment through harsh environments, including densely wooded or sloped areas; reacting autonomously to unexpected developments, such as losses of parts of the swarm; increasing the unit's mobility and flexibility; and increasing the overall protection level of the troops.

The consortium is led by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V. (Germany) and also encompasses ONERA (France), another well-established R&T organisation, Diehl Defence (Germany), a global player in defence systems, and charismaTec (Austria), a highly innovative SME. The project has a duration of 24 months. 

More information on the consortium can be found on the ARTUS project page.

About the PADR

The ARTUS project is part of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) launched by the European Commission in 2017 to assess and demonstrate the added-value of EU supported defence research and technology (R&T). It paved the way for a proper European Defence Programme to come as part of the European Defence Fund (EDF), under the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).
The PADR implementation is run by EDA following the mandate via a Delegation Agreement between the European Commission and EDA signed on 31 May 2017. By this agreement the Commission entrusts EDA with the management and implementation of the research projects launched within the PADR.  

 

EDA’s Steering Board has just approved a list of 10 topics to be assessed by the Agency in the coming months for their potential to be considered ‘Key Strategic Activities’ for the European Union in their endeavour to move towards strategic autonomy in the security and defence domain. The selected topics are all related to either the EU Capability Development Priorities or the defence research priorities jointly agreed in EDA. 

In the wake of the 2016 EU Global Strategy, which defined strategic autonomy in the field of security and defence as a long-term goal, EDA was tasked with identifying ‘Key Strategic Activities’ (KSA) - ranging from technological knowledge to industrial manufacturing skills - which Europe would need to acquire, maintain or further develop in order to be able to produce itself the defence equipment it needs. The aim of the KSA exercise is to identify, and then support, ‘must-have’ technologies and industrial abilities without which an appropriate level of strategic autonomy isn’t possible.  Once selected, the KSA have very practical implications as they will inform Member States’ defence investments and potentially draw co-financing from relevant EU funding instruments, including the European Defence Fund (EDF). 

Annual selection cycle

On 21 October 2020, the Agency’s Steering Board agreed on a revised KSA methodology. One of its novelties is the introduction of an annual cycle to make the KSA work-strand more structured for stakeholders. The first step of the annual cycle is the selection of topics for KSA assessment, based on agreed capability and research priority areas identified in the EU Capability Development Priorities (EU CDPs) and the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda Technology Building Blocks (OSRA TBB). In the selection, the Strategic Context Cases (SCC) and the outcome of the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) are also taken into account. Industry is also consulted.

Topics to be assessed

The 10 topics which were now selected for an in-depth industrial assessment are the following:

• Precision strike on land platform & skills
• Soldier systems
• Next Generation of Energy & Propulsion Systems for Air Platforms
• Counter-UAS (C-UAS)
• Underwater Communication Within UMS
• Underwater Detection
• 5G for defence
• Quantum Technologies (sensing, computing, communication)
• Sensors Network with ISR Sensors
• Military Application of Cloud Technologies.

Way ahead

Based on the agreed list of topics, EDA will now start the development of the ten individual KSA reports within the current annual cycle. The draft reports will be presented to the participating Member States as well as industry in June 2021, while the finalisation of the documents will take place in in September 2021.

KSA reports

EDA has developed 24 KSA reports so far in close cooperation with participating Member States and industry. As some examples, the KSA report on Cyber Defence R&T aims at both assessing and identifying the industrial activities needed to ensure the cyber resilience of information and communication systems being used within the EU members armed forces. The KSA report on Cutting Edge Technologies for Helicopters/Tiltrotors draws attention to the different technological avenues of approach that should be promoted to contribute to EU independent capabilities in the field of helicopter platforms. In addition, other reports explore the different challenges the EU should overcome to harness the full potential of strategic enablers such as Artificial intelligence and Big Data.

 

The OCEAN2020 research project, launched in 2018 under the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), reached an important milestone this week during the second simulation session held under the supervision of EDA’s research team with a view to preparing a second live demonstration scheduled for later this year, under real conditions, in the Baltic Sea.

OCEAN2020 is so far the largest project financed by the PADR which is managed by EDA on behalf of the European Commission. Its main objective is to demonstrate the improvement of maritime situational awareness by the coordinated use of multiple unmanned systems in the three domains (air, surface, subsurface). A key milestone of the project was the first live demonstration in the Gulf of Taranto in November 2019 where five European warships (including four frigates), four unmanned air systems, three unmanned surface systems and two underwater unmanned systems were involved.

 
Preparing the 2nd live demonstration later this year

The aim of this week’s simulation session was to prepare and perform a dry run of the two operational scenarios foreseen for the upcoming second live demonstration in a realistic environment which is scheduled for August 2021 in the Baltic sea (the event initially scheduled for summer 2020 had to be postponed due to the COVID crisis). Under the two operational scenarios planned for the Baltic Sea demonstration, both surface and underwater threats will be dealt with in realistic environments and circumstances.

In concrete terms, the simulation session had a total of eight simulation centres belonging to universities, industries and research centres from four different countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) connected, which enabled the 18 unmanned systems planned for the Baltic demonstration to operate together. The data and videos provided by all those unmanned assets were shared in real time in the simulated Combat Management Systems used by the different ships involved. Simultaneously, the data and footage were also displayed in a simulated future European Maritime Operations Centre where their objective is to support military decision-makers by providing them with an improved recognised maritime picture.

 
Background

The OCEAN2020 team involves 43 entities from 15 countries across Europe including large enterprises, small and medium enterprises, universities, research Institutes and end users.

EDA’s website www.eda.europa.eu has just received a comprehensive overhaul in an ambition to further improve visitors’ navigation experience and make reading and information search even more straightforward, enjoyable, and efficient.

With EU defence cooperation and EDA’s contribution to it evolving at a sustained pace, a fully-fledged revamp of the website - with refreshed content, structure and visual design - had become imperative to more adequately reflect the Agency’s most recent taskings, activities and achievements. The result is now online: have a look yourself and discover our new website now!

Feedback, comments and suggestions are always welcome: info@eda.europa.eu

Today, the European Defence Agency (EDA) published its annual Defence Data report for the year 2019, detailing defence spending by the 26 EDA Member States. In 2019, total defence expenditure stood at €186 billion, marking a 5% increase on 2018, and making it the highest level ever recorded by EDA since it began collecting data in 2006. EDA’s report also finds almost all Member States increased their overall defence spending in 2019, with significant increases on procurement of new equipment.
 

Highest defence expenditure in 15 years

At €186 billion, total defence expenditure corresponds to 1.4 % of the 26 EDA Member States’ gross domestic product (GDP) and marks the fifth year of consecutive growth. The 5% rise in spending recorded in 2019 represents the strongest increase since the general trend of defence spending was reversed in 2015 following the financial crisis.

EDA’s Defence Data report also finds strong variations in growth in defence spending among Member States, ranging from increases of 0.01% to 125%. Of the 26 Member States, 23 raised defence expenditures compared to 2018, four by more than €1 billion, with only three decreasing their spending in 2019.
 

Defence data 2019 key findings

EDA’s report, based on data provided by Ministries of Defence, also finds that total defence expenditure represented 2.9% of total government expenditure. In 2019, EDA Member States:

• Spent €41.4 billion on defence investments (equipment procurement and research and development) which corresponds to an increase of 19% compared to 2018;
• Reached the benchmark of spending at least 20% of total defence expenditure on defence investment for the first time since 2010 with 22% overall;
• Allocated 83.1% of defence investments to procure new equipment, whereas funding for defence R&D remained limited to 16.9%.

EDA Chief Executive, Jiří Šedivý said: “European defence spending reaching a new high is a positive development and clear response to Member States’ threat perception. Despite this progression, defence budgets remain vulnerable, with the economic impact of Covid-19 yet to be felt. Increased spending on defence is a positive trend that should be sustained and enhanced going forward with the additional benefit of the EU defence initiatives. The regular review in the CARD framework and the fulfilment of the PESCO commitments should contribute positively to better spending and ultimately to the cooperative development of innovative, interoperable and effective capabilities.”
 

Worrying fall in collaborative defence spending

Despite the rise in total defence expenditure, collaborative defence spending has gone backward. In 2019, Member States spent a total of €7 billion on the procurement of new equipment in cooperation with other Member States, representing a fall of 6% compared to 2017. Member States conducted 20% of their total equipment procurement in cooperation with other EU Member States in 2019, falling well short of the 35% collective benchmark and marking a significant drop off since of the relatively high 27% recorded in 2017.
 

Defence Research & Technology investment continues to lag

In 2019, defence Research and Technology (R&T) spending amounted to €1.7 billion, marking an increase of 13% compared to 2018. However, unlike total defence spending which now surpasses 2007 levels, investment in defence R&T is much slower to recover and remains roughly €380 million below its 2007 high.

Investment in defence R&T remains insufficient and Member States fall collectively short of reaching the collective benchmark of spending 2% of their total defence expenditure on defence R&T. Although 2019 saw a modest rise with 0.9% allocated, up from 0.8% in 2018, no Member State achieved the 2% benchmark with only four nations spending more than 1% of their total defence expenditure on defence R&T.
 

Background

EDA collects defence data on an annual basis, and has done so since 2006, in line with the Agency’s Ministerial Steering Board Decision of November 2005. The Ministries of Defence of the Agency’s 26 Member States provide the data. EDA acts as the custodian of the data and publishes the aggregated figures in its booklets.

All data is collated (“total incorporates 26 EDA Member States”), and it has been rounded. Defence expenditure figures are provided in constant 2019 prices, in order to take inflation into account and allow for a comparison across years.

Following the exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union, this year’s figures no longer include the defence expenditure data of the UK.
 

Notes for editors

1. EDA Defence Data Report 2018-2019
2. EDA Defence Data webpage
3. The European Defence Agency (EDA), the hub for European defence cooperation:
   1. Created in 2004 to support and facilitate defence cooperation in Europe, EDA has become the place where countries willing to develop their defence capabilities collaboratively can do so.
   2. EDA’s expertise and activities cover the whole spectrum of cooperation: from harmonising requirements to delivering operational capabilities; from research & technology (R&T) and innovation to developing technology demonstrators; from training and exercises to support to CSDP operations.
   3. EDA also closely engages with the European defence industry to enhance Europe’s defence technological and industrial base and help make the industry stronger and more competitive.
   4. The Agency’s role and impact have constantly grown, especially with the implementation of the EU’s Global Strategy (2016) which also led Member States to reinforce the Agency’s mission in 2017.
4. Follow #EUdefence on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube) for more and visit our website www.eda.europa.eu.

 
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An arrangement was signed today between EDA, represented by Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý, and the EU’s Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), represented by Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, on the transfer of ownership of the Agency’s Smart Energy Camps Technical Demonstrator based at the EU Training Mission Mali (EUTM Mali) to the MPCC.

The Smart Energy Camps Technical Demonstrator (SECTD), previously developed as an EDA project, was deployed to EU Training Mission Mali (EUTM) at Camp Koulikoro between October 2015 and March 2016 to test the practical implementation of an intelligent power management system (energy demand management, renewable production and storage) in a challenging military environment. The demonstrator included fixed solar photovoltaic panels on a test building (16KWp), flexible soldier portable solar photovoltaic panels as well as monitoring and metering equipment for water and electricity. Over the six-month test period, the renewable energy systems were not only successfully integrated into the existing camp power architecture (requiring only minimal reconfigurations of the network) but it also led to substantial energy management improvements and cost savings.

Even though it was decided to keep the demonstrator at the camp after the test deployment and let it continue its services and renewable energy supplies to EUTM Mali, it was never the ambition of EDA to remain the owner and remote technical maintenance manager of the system in the long run. Hence the agreement now reached with the EU’s Military Planning and Conduct Capability, as the commander of EUTM Mali, to take over the full ownership rights of the demonstrator on behalf of ATHENA, the mechanism which handles the financing of common costs relating to EU military operations under the EU's common security and defence policy. This arrangement will allow for the demonstrator to continue its services to EUTM in the future under the best technical conditions.

EU Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý said: “The Smart Energy Camps Technical Demonstrator deployed at EU Training Mission Mali, at Camp Koulikoro, has successfully shown under operational and harsh conditions that smart energy management of military camps is not only technologically possible but also profitable. Its handover to the EU’s Military Planning and Conduct Capability, as the commander of EUTM, is a logical step as it offers the best guarantee for the good and smooth functioning of the system in the future”.

MPCC Director General Hervé Bléjean stated: “I would like to thank and acknowledge the European Defence Agency’s support to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy and its support to our EU Training Mission. The significant energy efficiency that this innovative project provides is tangible benefit to our mission in Mali. Its operational reliance enhances our capability to function in even the harshest of environments and reduces our environmental footprint. I have absolute faith in the ability of our personnel in Mali to ensure its continued operation and development.”
 

Background

The Smart Energy Camps Technical Demonstrator project is only one of EDA’s activities aimed to help Member States make their Armed Forces more energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable. For example, EDA also manages the European Commission’s Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) which assist EU Member States’ Ministries of Defence to move towards green, resilient, and efficient energy models.  The Agency has also set up a dedicated ‘Energy and Environment Working Group’ which supports Member States in dealing with the many energy and environment-related aspects in defence.  Furthermore, EDA will also be working closely with the Commission via a new “Incubation Forum” on circular economy in defence to generate cooperative project ideas for Member States, to help steer them toward a more circular defence.

EDA’s Steering Board recently approved the launch of a specific EDA ad hoc project which will contribute to the implementation of a Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) project aimed at developing a European Patrol Corvette. Italy, which leads a group of four PESCO participating countries involved in EPC (together with France, Spain and Greece), had requested the Agency’s support for moving this ambitious project forward. 

Part of the third batch of PESCO projects approved in November 2019, the project aims at designing and developing a new class of military ship, named “European Patrol Corvette” (EPC), which will   host several systems and payloads able to accomplish a large number of tasks and missions in a modular and flexible way. The EPC will provide valuable capabilities in the areas of maritime situational awareness, surface superiority and power projection. The participating Member States aim to produce their first corvette prototype in 2026-2027. 

The EPC is envisaged as a common platform, a shared baseline, which can be customised as needed by participating Member States according to their national needs and specifications. The overall displacement is expected to be no more than 3,000 tonnes, which will allow the ship to operate from minor harbours (draft less than 5.5 meters). The length of the ship, to be equipped with diesel and/or electrical engines, should not exceed 110 meters.  

The ship will be based on an open plug-and-play architecture which will facilitate the versatility of response in the framework of EU CSDP operations and will provide a quick reaction capability, applicable to a broad range of scenarios. 
 

EDA tasks 

The Agency’s new project will support the EPC PESCO project implementation through the development and adoption of Common Staff Target (CST), Common Staff Requirements (CSR) and a Business Case (BC). The objective of these documents, which are an indispensable step for a follow-on phase of the EPC PESCO project, is to shape the common core part and identify specifications and requirements that would be compatible with the modularity concept of the military ship. 

The Agency will also support the governance body of the EPC project. With its expertise in project management and harmonisation of capability requirements, EDA will be able to provide valuable assistance in these domains. Industry is not participating directly in this EDA project, but may be consulted, if deemed necessary by the contributing Member States.  

EDA’s Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý said: “EDA is delighted to support this ambitious and innovative PESCO project. As the European hub for collaborative capability development, the Agency has the expertise to help Member States in the implementation of their PESCO projects. The European Patrol Corvette project responds directly to an existing gap in Europe’s capability landscape acknowledged by Member States during the revision of the Capability Development Plan (CDP) in 2018, namely that of naval manoeuvrability and the need for improved maritime situational awareness, surface superiority and power projection. The future EPC will provide participating Member States with those missing capabilities, thereby further strengthening the Europe of Defence”.  

Italy’s Capability Director, Gen. Giovanni Iannucci said: “The project of the European Patrol Corvette is aimed at developing a new Class of military ships in order to accomplish, with a flexible approach, a large number of tasks and missions aimed to Homeland Security and protection of European waters. More in details, the EPC will carry out Maritime Security Operations and Police of the High Seas functions, playing a key role in preserving Freedom of Navigation (FoN) and fighting against terrorism and illegal trafficking at sea. The EPC will be characterized by a multi-purpose and modular approach by design that will also allow to perform dual-use missions, such as anti-pollution activities, humanitarian assistance operations and interventions in support of populations in case of natural disasters. Italy is very proud of the coordinating role and will continue to conduct all necessary activities for the EPC’s success. Furthermore I believe that this project constitutes an excellent opportunity for the whole European Defence and in particular the military shipyards sector to work together in order to foster industrial synergies, operational interoperability and maintain a technological advantage.” 

Among the many highlights of EDA’s recent Annual Conference (see other news) was certainly the high-level panel discussion on ‘Increasing European defence cooperation in times of crisis’, featuring the Greek Minister of Defence, Nikólaos Panayotópoulos, and Nathalie Loiseau, the Chair the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE). The interesting and animated debate, which can be reviewed here, was moderated by EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý.

Welcoming the timely focus on 'Sustaining European Defence' (the topic of this year's Annual Conference), Nikólaos Panayotópoulos recalled Member States’ commitment, reflected in the Council conclusions of November 2016, to strengthening the Union’s ability to act as a security provider and to enhance the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as an essential part of the Union’s external action. “This means, in particular, that we need a more integrated and coherent approach across our different policies, internal and external, to better pursue our strategic interests, through international cooperation”, the Greek Defence Minister said, adding: “Member States should make full use of the EU defence initiatives and deepen their embedding in the national defence planning in order to achieve a better consistency between one another and reach strategic autonomy”.

The fact that nine PESCO projects have already received financial support under the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) is a positive development showing that the initiatives work, he said. Greece received funding approval from EDIDP for two PESCO projects it leads (‘Cyber Threats & Incident Response Information Sharing Platform’ and ‘Upgrade of Maritime Surveillance’). “This is a clear evidence of the coherence between the initiatives”. In the Minister’s view, enhanced cooperation and joint capability development among EU countries will not only improve Europe’s defence capabilities, but also help reinforce its industrial base and technological capacity “which is a fundamental aspect of EU strategic autonomy”. “I believe that spending more on defence will also strengthen the economic recovery. As the European Defence Agency has already indicated, EU countries should spend more on defence research and technology”, Mr Panayotópoulos stated: “We should sustain the trend of increasing national defence expenditures towards 2% of the GDP. I am proud that Greece not only fulfills but is about to exceed its commitment on annual defence spending”. 

The Minister also defended the EU’s operation IRINI in the Mediterranean (enforcement of the UN arms embargo on Libya) as a “question of political will and political courage”. People throughout Europe must understand that it is not a threat against one or two Member States, but against the entire Union. “Greece, precisely for this reason, and despite the challenges and provocations at our eastern sea and land borders and the Covid-19 outbreak, is substantially contributing to the Operation in terms of personnel and assets”, he explained. The Minister called for “unity and solidarity” among all EU countries. “We cannot discuss on strengthening our operational engagement and reinforcing our resilience without ensuring solidarity between us. Through the recent threat analysis we made a first step within the process of Strategic Compass to better understand and share a perception of threats, thus moving to the progressive framing of a common Union defence policy. We have common threats and need common responses”. EU-NATO cooperation is a “key partnership” which we should reinforce, while our commitment to work with the UN in the field of security and defence should be enhanced, he said.

Nathalie Loiseau, the Chair of the SEDE committee, shared Mr Panayotópoulos’ positive assessment on the progress made on EU defence cooperation. There is indeed a “clear, common and shared ambition in the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament to enhance the efforts towards a European defence”, Ms Loiseau said, adding: “We have done more for EU defence in the last four years than we did in the previous four decades”. In a world that is becoming less predictable and more dangerous, “soft power is not enough”, she stressed (Greek Minister Panayotópoulos strongly agreed with her on this point: “In terms of soft power, the Europe is a superpower. In terms of hard power, it is lagging behind”, he said). Therefore, European countries need to enhance their defence capabilities, and cooperation is the best and most efficient way to do this. The EU’s new defence toolbox (CARD, PESCO, EDF) is in place and this is “very encouraging”, but everyone must admit that this is only the first step and that there is still some room for improvements, Ms Loiseau said. In particular, PESCO projects must become “more focused”. Improvements are also needed when it comes to EU CSDP missions and operation which often face problems during the force generation phase and whose mandates are “not always as strong as they should be”. Here, Member States need to show more commitment and “combine words with deeds”, Ms Loiseau urged. 

Regarding the debate about EU strategic autonomy, Ms Loiseau felt it was somewhat “overstated” because “no one is denying the importance of NATO” for Europe’s defence. What Europe wants is to become a more credible transatlantic and strategic partner, which is meant to be complementary with NATO.  “I strongly believe we need to revive NATO because NATO has to adapt (…) and we need to strengthen European strategic autonomy because NATO is not enough and will never be”, Ms Loiseau said.
 

More information

• Opening speech Head of Agency HR/VP Josep Borrell
• Keynote Speech Commissioner Thierry Breton (via video message)
• Full recording of EDA Annual Conference 2020 – Day 1 / Day 2 (not edited)

The second and final day of EDA’s virtual Annual Conference 2020 (see main highlights of the first day here) was marked by several high-level political speeches and contributions which all had as a common thread the urgent need for Europe to take more responsibility for its own security and defence, and to use the already existing cooperation tools to move towards more collaborative defence planning, spending and capability development. 
 

Josep Borrell: “Time for action is now”

In the opening speech of the second day, the Head of the Agency, High Representative Josep Borrell, said the conference theme ‘Sustaining European defence’ was not only the topic of the day “but our common task for the years and decades to come”. The first ever EU threat analysis that has just been done as part of the process that will lead to the Union’s Strategic Compass to be adopted in 2022 “confirms that we are facing - now and for the foreseeable future - the most challenging combination of risks and threats since the end of the Cold War”, he said. 

In the face of that, “strengthening the EU’s security and defence policy is not a luxury; it is a necessity because the challenges we face can only be addressed by providing a collective European answer”.  This means that Europe needs to enhance its ability to act - autonomously when necessary. “In other words, we need to increase our strategic autonomy. For that, we need to increase our operational effectiveness, our resilience and our civilian and military capabilities”, while at the same time strengthen of our relations with partners, first and foremost the transatlantic bond and cooperation with NATO, Mr Borrel stated. The upcoming Strategic Compass, “a key deliverable of my mandate”, is sometimes questioned by people who doubt about the need to have “yet another paper”. But this Compass is needed to “give a clear direction to enhance coherence between all these initiatives and strategies” and to develop a common strategic culture on security and defence”. 

But defining goals or shared ambitions is not enough, the Head of Agency pursued: “We also need to follow them through and deliver on them”. Together, the EU's defence instruments set up over the past years (CARD, PESCO, EDF) have a unique potential to help us advance towards a stronger European defence, he said. “What is needed in the future - and there is no better place to state this than at the European Defence Agency - is concrete progress and greater convergence among Member States in three areas: defence investment, defence planning and defence cooperation. This is also the main message that comes out of the first CARD report”. Therefore, “what Europe needs is a more coherent and integrated defence landscape. We need more capable, deployable, interoperable and sustainable military capabilities and forces. To achieve this, we need a drastic change of mindset in the Member States. Cooperation is not always the easiest way, but it is the only and best way to achieve results”, Mr Borrell stressed; adding: “Cooperation must become the default option in Europe”.

The Head of the Agency concluded with a call for urgent action: “I am often told that defence lifecycles are long and that we need strategic patience. This is true, but it should not become an excuse. Let me be blunt: I do not think we have the luxury to take time. We need to think big, be perseverant and action-oriented. We Europeans need to take responsibility for our own future. And the time to do so is now”. 

 

Mircea Geoană: NATO and EU defence are “inextricably linked”

In his keynote speech, Mircea Geoană, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General, said that sustaining European defence is very important for NATO because European defence is “inextricably linked to transatlantic defence”. “In recent years, the level of NATO-EU cooperation has reached unprecedented levels. We are working together on so many issues. From improving military mobility and countering hybrid and cyber threats and countering disinformation together - we have done this during the pandemic very successfully - to coordinating our exercises or improving our strategic communications”, he said.

Stressing that NATO and the EU should work “even closer together”, Mr. Geoana noted that NATO is already delivering on the Emerging and Disruptive Technology Implementation Roadmap that NATO leaders agreed in London, when they last met in December 2019. “I think we can do and should do more when it comes to new technologies and the way in which these technologies are affecting, not only defence and security, but also the way of life. Because the definition of security is becoming far more multifaceted. The line between traditional threats and non-traditional threats is becoming more blurred”, he said.

Highlighting the importance of “a very close and complimentary cooperation between NATO and the EU”, he said that “It is good that EU is becoming more ambitious on defence and security”. He noted that today 80% of defence spending in NATO is done by non-EU countries and that 90% of the population of the EU is also population of NATO countries. “So we are, in a way, obliged to work together”, he said.
 

Commissioner Breton: “Europe needs both soft and hard power”

In his keynote speech (delivered via video message), Thierry Breton, the Commissioner for Internal Market who also oversees the  Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS), said Europe needed to define its place in the world and take “strategic leadership”. To do that “Europe’s soft-power is not enough”.  “This is why Europe needs to acquire some of the features of ‘hard power’ so that it can defence its vision and interests and become a more credible partner for its allies”, he stressed.

The massive economic recovery package the EU adopted as its answer to the Covid-19 pandemic can also have an impact on Europe’s international position and help it “become more resilient by investing in areas of strategic importance”, the Commissioner said, adding: “To take strategic leadership, and remain able to autonomously analyse, decide and act, we also need to protect autonomously our strategic interests”. 

As regards Europe’s defence, “it is of paramount importance that we collectively invest in defence and secure our supply by protecting our defence value supply chains”, said Mr Breton, underlining that Member States should “spend wiser by spending together”. To sustain European Defence, defence cooperation should become the “new norm”. It is also important to follow an “holistic approach including all relevant actors at EU and national level”, he said.
 

Panel discussion, conversations

Participants at the second day of the Conference also witnessed an interesting and informative high-level panel discussion moderated by EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý and focused on ‘Increasing European defence cooperation in times of crisis’,  featuring the Greek Minister of Defence, Nikólaos Panayotópoulos, and Nathalie Loiseau, the Chair the European Parliament’s SEDE Committee. 

The panel discussion was followed by two particularly informative ‘conversations’ moderated by Dr Florence Gaub (Deputy Director of the EUISS): one with Jean Pierre Van Aubel (EEAS) on the Strategic Compass, and one with EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu on the first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) report. 
 

More information:

• Opening speech Head of Agency HR/VP Josep Borrell
• Keynote Speech Commissioner Thierry Breton (via video message)

 

The European Defence Agency’s Annual Conference 2020 entitled 'Sustaining European Defence’ was opened this morning by EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý. As exceptional circumstances (Covid pandemic) require exceptional measures, this year’s conference is held in online format with a very broad audience representing the whole European defence spectrum (governments, armed forces, industry, EU institutions, NATO, think tanks and media) connected remotely to listen to speeches and panel discussions and also actively take part in debates through interactive Q&A sessions. 

The conference is split in two parts: while the first one, held this morning, primarily dealt with operational and industrial aspects, the second part tomorrow (4 December) will focus on political and strategic questions.
 

"We need more cooperation in defence"

In his welcome, EDA Chief Jiří Šedivý said the conference, at the end of a particularly challenging year, was coming at the “right moment” as the Covid-19 crisis had not only revealed risks and vulnerabilities but also the clear necessity to further enhance security and defence cooperation to make Europe stronger in the future. Since the required cooperation tools are already all in place (CARD, PESCO and the precursor programmes of the European Defence Fund), they should now be used to the fullest extent, Mr Šedivý stressed. The message of the first CARD report presented by EDA to Defence Ministers two weeks ago could not have been clearer: “We need more cooperation in defence. And we need the political will and the urgency” to turn Europe into a more credible and more autonomous security provider, as pledged in the EU Global Strategy in 2016. So far, most Member States have not yet made full use of the common instruments which explains why the European capability landscape continues to suffer from fragmentation, duplication and insufficient operational engagement. These findings, clearly confirmed by the CARD findings, “are not new. What is new is the method how we retrieved them. Today we have clear evidence. And we should use it to change our approach towards European defence”, Mr Šedivý urged.
 

German EU Presidency

In his Presidency speech, German Defence State Secretary Benedikt Zimmer recalled the main defence-related objective of the ongoing German EU Presidency: “Strengthening the EU in the area of security and defence”. In the current Coivid-19 crisis, “we need, more than ever, stand together in the EU, unified by a clear vision regarding our values, interests and ambitions. Our citizens expect a strong EU. An EU that protects and defends them in the face of any current and future crisis”, he said. Despite some progress in deepening the EU´s CSDP over the past years, “the ongoing crisis has revealed not only strengths but also weaknesses in our system”. Hence the need for Europe to focus on two core issues. “First, the EU needs the capacity to provide support and assist in the direct and immediate management of the crisis. Second, in the long run, we have to be able to act in order to position ourselves in a post-COVID-19 order, especially in the domain of security and defence”, in close cooperation with NATO “which remains the cornerstone of collective defence in Europe”, Mr Zimmer said. Member States need to be clear about their intentions and objectives; hence the importance of the ongoing work on the EU’s Strategic Compass which “will help us to plan better and to act more decisively in the future, if and when European action is required. This will also provide more transparency for our partners”. As regards the more urgent challenge to respond to the current Covid crisis, Mr Zimmer expressed the hope that the ongoing PESCO project European Medical Command (EMC) will lead to “higher resilience and closer cooperation among the Armed Forces of the EU Member States”. The EMC will also be closely linked with NATO’s Multinational Medical Coordination Centre (MMCC) and thus creates vivid and much-needed close cooperation between NATO and the EU, he insisted. “The current COVID-19 pandemic may only be one of several crises throughout the 21st century, but it emphasizes the necessity to develop a EU that is more resilient and able to act towards a variety of different challenges. This will require more cooperation and coordination between all EU Member States. Important is also close coordination between the EU and its partners, especially the cooperation with NATO”, Mr Zimmer concluded. 
 

Military viewpoint

Presenting the operational military viewpoint, the Chairman of the EU Military Committee (EUMC), General Claudio Graziano, stressed the importance of having the end-user’s view, the one of the Armed Forces operating on the ground, well integrated into the EU’s overall efforts to move towards a more homogeneous and interoperable defence landscape. “We all know that the end-user, by definition, is the ultimate consumer of a final product, which in case of the military domain, can be a weapon, a system, or even a policy. But the role of the end user goes further than this. Military inputs and expertise coming from the field represent an essential factor for the best definition of the product itself, optimizing the outcome of the whole manufacture chain. In other words, it should be the militaries to drive the changes, asking for the capabilities they need to accomplish their tasks, which, in the case of the EU, means to fulfil the Level of Ambition defined at political level, being able to defend Europe interests and citizens”, he said. All recently launched EU Defence initiatives (CARD, PESCO, EDF) go into the right direction, also because they have integrated the end-user perspective, General Graziano stressed: “All these efforts will have to monitor closely the geopolitical trends as well as the new threats, compelling us to continuously improve our military tools, if we are to succeed against our adversaries, in whatever nature they will challenge us: traditional, hybrid, cyber or - probably - a combination of all these dimensions”. 
 

Panel discussions

The first half day of the Conference was also marked by two lively and interesting panel discussions:

• The first one, moderated by Dr Daniela Schwarzer (Director at the German Council on Foreign Relations) focused on ‘Delivering on military effectiveness: from priorities to implementation’ and featured the following panelists: Jukka Juusti (Permanent Secretary, at the Finnish Ministry of Defence),  Admiral Michel Hofman (Chief of Defence of Belgium) and Vice-Admiral Hervé Bléjean (Director General of the EU Military Staff):
• The second one, moderated by EDA’s Pieter Taal (Head of Unit Industry Strategy and EU Policies) dealt with the  impact of COVID-19 on defence and the question: ‘How does the EU defence industry adapt to a new normal?’ This panel was composed by Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau (Director of the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, SIPRI), Lauri Almann (Co-Founder, Member of the Executive Board, CybExer Technologies) and Giovanni Soccodato, (Chief Strategic Equity Officer, Leonardo).
   

EDA Defence Innovation Prize

Today’s session also saw EDA’s Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu hand over this year’s EDA Defence Innovation Prize to the owners of the two winning projects: the Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) one the one hand, and Rantelon and Tampere University, on the other hand. More details on the Innovation Prize ceremony are available in this specific webnews.

 

The European Defence Agency’s Annual Conference 2020 entitled 'Sustaining European Defence’ was opened this morning by EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý. As exceptional circumstances (Covid pandemic) require exceptional measures, this year’s conference is held in online format with a very broad audience representing the whole European defence spectrum (governments, armed forces, industry, EU institutions, NATO, think tanks and media) connected remotely to listen to speeches and panel discussions and also actively take part in debates through interactive Q&A sessions. 

The conference is split in two parts: while the first one, held this morning, primarily dealt with operational and industrial aspects, the second part tomorrow (4 December) will focus on political and strategic questions.
 

"We need more cooperation in defence"

In his welcome, EDA Chief Jiří Šedivý said the conference, at the end of a particularly challenging year, was coming at the “right moment” as the Covid-19 crisis had not only revealed risks and vulnerabilities but also the clear necessity to further enhance security and defence cooperation to make Europe stronger in the future. Since the required cooperation tools are already all in place (CARD, PESCO and the precursor programmes of the European Defence Fund), they should now be used to the fullest extent, Mr Šedivý stressed. The message of the first CARD report presented by EDA to Defence Ministers two weeks ago could not have been clearer: “We need more cooperation in defence. And we need the political will and the urgency” to turn Europe into a more credible and more autonomous security provider, as pledged in the EU Global Strategy in 2016. So far, most Member States have not yet made full use of the common instruments which explains why the European capability landscape continues to suffer from fragmentation, duplication and insufficient operational engagement. These findings, clearly confirmed by the CARD findings, “are not new. What is new is the method how we retrieved them. Today we have clear evidence. And we should use it to change our approach towards European defence”, Mr Šedivý urged.
 

German EU Presidency

In his Presidency speech, German Defence State Secretary Benedikt Zimmer recalled the main defence-related objective of the ongoing German EU Presidency: “Strengthening the EU in the area of security and defence”. In the current Coivid-19 crisis, “we need, more than ever, stand together in the EU, unified by a clear vision regarding our values, interests and ambitions. Our citizens expect a strong EU. An EU that protects and defends them in the face of any current and future crisis”, he said. Despite some progress in deepening the EU´s CSDP over the past years, “the ongoing crisis has revealed not only strengths but also weaknesses in our system”. Hence the need for Europe to focus on two core issues. “First, the EU needs the capacity to provide support and assist in the direct and immediate management of the crisis. Second, in the long run, we have to be able to act in order to position ourselves in a post-COVID-19 order, especially in the domain of security and defence”, in close cooperation with NATO “which remains the cornerstone of collective defence in Europe”, Mr Zimmer said. Member States need to be clear about their intentions and objectives; hence the importance of the ongoing work on the EU’s Strategic Compass which “will help us to plan better and to act more decisively in the future, if and when European action is required. This will also provide more transparency for our partners”. As regards the more urgent challenge to respond to the current Covid crisis, Mr Zimmer expressed the hope that the ongoing PESCO project European Medical Command (EMC) will lead to “higher resilience and closer cooperation among the Armed Forces of the EU Member States”. The EMC will also be closely linked with NATO’s Multinational Medical Coordination Centre (MMCC) and thus creates vivid and much-needed close cooperation between NATO and the EU, he insisted. “The current COVID-19 pandemic may only be one of several crises throughout the 21st century, but it emphasizes the necessity to develop a EU that is more resilient and able to act towards a variety of different challenges. This will require more cooperation and coordination between all EU Member States. Important is also close coordination between the EU and its partners, especially the cooperation with NATO”, Mr Zimmer concluded. 
 

Military viewpoint

Presenting the operational military viewpoint, the Chairman of the EU Military Committee (EUMC), General Claudio Graziano, stressed the importance of having the end-user’s view, the one of the Armed Forces operating on the ground, well integrated into the EU’s overall efforts to move towards a more homogeneous and interoperable defence landscape. “We all know that the end-user, by definition, is the ultimate consumer of a final product, which in case of the military domain, can be a weapon, a system, or even a policy. But the role of the end user goes further than this. Military inputs and expertise coming from the field represent an essential factor for the best definition of the product itself, optimizing the outcome of the whole manufacture chain. In other words, it should be the militaries to drive the changes, asking for the capabilities they need to accomplish their tasks, which, in the case of the EU, means to fulfil the Level of Ambition defined at political level, being able to defend Europe interests and citizens”, he said. All recently launched EU Defence initiatives (CARD, PESCO, EDF) go into the right direction, also because they have integrated the end-user perspective, General Graziano stressed: “All these efforts will have to monitor closely the geopolitical trends as well as the new threats, compelling us to continuously improve our military tools, if we are to succeed against our adversaries, in whatever nature they will challenge us: traditional, hybrid, cyber or - probably - a combination of all these dimensions”. 
 

Panel discussions

The first half day of the Conference was also marked by two lively and interesting panel discussions:

• The first one, moderated by Dr Daniela Schwarzer (Director at the German Council on Foreign Relations) focused on ‘Delivering on military effectiveness: from priorities to implementation’ and featured the following panelists: Jukka Juusti (Permanent Secretary, at the Finnish Ministry of Defence),  Admiral Michel Hofman (Chief of Defence of Belgium) and Vice-Admiral Hervé Bléjean (Director General of the EU Military Staff):
• The second one, moderated by EDA’s Pieter Taal (Head of Unit Industry Strategy and EU Policies) dealt with the  impact of COVID-19 on defence and the question: ‘How does the EU defence industry adapt to a new normal?’ This panel was composed by Dr Lucie Béraud-Sudreau (Director of the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, SIPRI), Lauri Almann (Co-Founder, Member of the Executive Board, CybExer Technologies) and Giovanni Soccodato, (Chief Strategic Equity Officer, Leonardo).
   

EDA Defence Innovation Prize

Today’s session also saw EDA’s Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu hand over this year’s EDA Defence Innovation Prize to the owners of the two winning projects: the Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) one the one hand, and Rantelon and Tampere University, on the other hand. More details on the Innovation Prize ceremony are available in this specific webnews.

EDA today announced the two winners of the 2020 EDA Defence Innovation Prize. Launched in March, this year’s contest looked for the most innovative ideas, technologies and solutions for the countering of swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), in particular to protect land facilities and platforms. After a thorough assessment of all applications received, the jury decided to announce two winners, each of whom is rewarded with €30,000. 
 

SWADAR  

The first of the two winning projects is called SWADAR (SWarm ADvanced Detection And TRacking) and was proposed by the Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) based in Capua, Italy.  

SWADAR proposes a technological solution for drone-swarm tracking to provide the operational picture of swarm attacks. It uses a defensive team of drones, which tracks the hostile swarm from different perspectives. Defensive drones are equipped with proximal sensors to achieve the required resolution and sensitivity. A coordination mechanism and an ad-hoc network ensure the cooperation of the defensive team to maintain optimal performance for tracking. A fusion of the drones’ views is also performed to provide the operator with the common operational picture and to assess swarming metrics, which are key indicators to establish the most effective counter-actions and to possibly automate the decision-making of mitigations. Moreover, the tracking solution is extended with the automated recognition of the swarm-attack scenario and with the learning of new swarming behaviours. This guarantees the adaptability of the system in face of evolving attacks. 
 

Full-Duplex Radio Technology for Enhanced Defence Capabilities Against Drone Swarms 

The second winning project is called ‘Full-Duplex Radio Technology for Enhanced Defence Capabilities Against Drone Swarms’ and was presented by Rantelon, an Estonian small to medium-sized company, in cooperation with Tampere University, Finland. 

The core innovation of reaching full duplex capability should allow to simultaneously recon drones via their Radio Frequency (RF) signals and to neutralise them, e.g. via jamming, contributing to an enhanced situational awareness, improved neutralisation performance, multifunction capabilities, and minimised collateral damage.  The proposed solution would bring detection and countermeasures, such as jamming and spoofing, to a higher level because it will allow the execution of both tasks simultaneously, what is not possible currently. Considering that the technological concept is already verified and experimental proofs-of-concept have been reported, it is possible to assume that this very relevant technology can be translated in enhanced security and defence capabilities by 2030.  The technology has a high potential to create excellent dual-use synergies and to capture the attention of key players in the defence field to form valuable partnerships with non-traditional defence R&T communities and innovators for both defence and civil applications. The idea was considered by the jury as coherent and very likely to be feasible as proposed, given that the higher demand of power can be solved and expanded frequencies can be addressed.  
 

Strategic importance of counter-UAV capabilities 

“The fact that this year’s contest was focused on innovations related to countering UAVs reflects the strategic importance of drones and the threat they represent for modern air defence systems, especially when used in large swarms coordinated by Artificial Intelligence supported platforms”, said EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu when symbolically handing over the prize to the two winners at EDA’s virtual Annual Conference 2020 which opened today (see other news). Counter-UAV capabilities are therefore not only part of the revised European Defence Capability Development Priorities adopted in 2018, but also of the six focus areas for potential future cooperation identified in the recent first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), Mr Ruutu stressed. 
 

About the winners 

CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Centre) is a company mainly in public ownership created in 1984. The Centre was founded with the aim of performing and promoting research and technological development in the fields of space and aeronautics and enabling Italian enterprises to compete on the international markets. CIRA has the biggest research facilities in the field of aerospace in Italy, with cutting-edge testing facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories. 

Rantelon is an Estonian company specialised in developing and producing radio frequency (RF) electronics, including low level components and integrated systems, for a range of applications. The company provides solutions from civilian cellular and public safety networks to various signals intelligence and effector capabilities for the defence sector. 

Tampere University participated the winning project with assistant professor Taneli Riihonen’s team in the Unit of Electrical Engineering. They are currently pursuing research on full-duplex counter-drone and radio shield technologies with support from the Finnish Scientific Advisory Board for Defence and the Academy of Finland. 
 

About the EDA Defence Innovation Prize 

The award, organised by EDA since 2018, aims to stimulate defence technological innovation in Europe, in particular by reaching out to non-defence R&T communities and innovators set to play an ever-bigger role in developing and producing Europe’s future defence capabilities. It is also meant to provide non-traditional defence stakeholders (civil industries, SMEs, research organisations, universities, etc.) with an opportunity to showcase their know-how in domains relevant for defence, maximize dual-use synergies and engage in partnerships with the defence sector. 

EDA today announced the two winners of the 2020 EDA Defence Innovation Prize. Launched in March, this year’s contest looked for the most innovative ideas, technologies and solutions for the countering of swarms of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), in particular to protect land facilities and platforms. After a thorough assessment of all applications received, the jury decided to announce two winners, each of whom is rewarded with €30,000. 
 

SWADAR  

The first of the two winning projects is called SWADAR (SWarm ADvanced Detection And TRacking) and was proposed by the Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA) based in Capua, Italy.  

SWADAR proposes a technological solution for drone-swarm tracking to provide the operational picture of swarm attacks. It uses a defensive team of drones, which tracks the hostile swarm from different perspectives. Defensive drones are equipped with proximal sensors to achieve the required resolution and sensitivity. A coordination mechanism and an ad-hoc network ensure the cooperation of the defensive team to maintain optimal performance for tracking. A fusion of the drones’ views is also performed to provide the operator with the common operational picture and to assess swarming metrics, which are key indicators to establish the most effective counter-actions and to possibly automate the decision-making of mitigations. Moreover, the tracking solution is extended with the automated recognition of the swarm-attack scenario and with the learning of new swarming behaviours. This guarantees the adaptability of the system in face of evolving attacks. 
 

Full-Duplex Radio Technology for Enhanced Defence Capabilities Against Drone Swarms 

The second winning project is called ‘Full-Duplex Radio Technology for Enhanced Defence Capabilities Against Drone Swarms’ and was presented by Rantelon, an Estonian small to medium-sized company, in cooperation with Tampere University, Finland. 

The core innovation of reaching full duplex capability should allow to simultaneously recon drones via their Radio Frequency (RF) signals and to neutralise them, e.g. via jamming, contributing to an enhanced situational awareness, improved neutralisation performance, multifunction capabilities, and minimised collateral damage.  The proposed solution would bring detection and countermeasures, such as jamming and spoofing, to a higher level because it will allow the execution of both tasks simultaneously, what is not possible currently. Considering that the technological concept is already verified and experimental proofs-of-concept have been reported, it is possible to assume that this very relevant technology can be translated in enhanced security and defence capabilities by 2030.  The technology has a high potential to create excellent dual-use synergies and to capture the attention of key players in the defence field to form valuable partnerships with non-traditional defence R&T communities and innovators for both defence and civil applications. The idea was considered by the jury as coherent and very likely to be feasible as proposed, given that the higher demand of power can be solved and expanded frequencies can be addressed.  
 

Strategic importance of counter-UAV capabilities 

“The fact that this year’s contest was focused on innovations related to countering UAVs reflects the strategic importance of drones and the threat they represent for modern air defence systems, especially when used in large swarms coordinated by Artificial Intelligence supported platforms”, said EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu when symbolically handing over the prize to the two winners at EDA’s virtual Annual Conference 2020 which opened today (see other news). Counter-UAV capabilities are therefore not only part of the revised European Defence Capability Development Priorities adopted in 2018, but also of the six focus areas for potential future cooperation identified in the recent first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), Mr Ruutu stressed. 
 

About the winners 

CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Centre) is a company mainly in public ownership created in 1984. The Centre was founded with the aim of performing and promoting research and technological development in the fields of space and aeronautics and enabling Italian enterprises to compete on the international markets. CIRA has the biggest research facilities in the field of aerospace in Italy, with cutting-edge testing facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories. 

Rantelon is an Estonian company specialised in developing and producing radio frequency (RF) electronics, including low level components and integrated systems, for a range of applications. The company provides solutions from civilian cellular and public safety networks to various signals intelligence and effector capabilities for the defence sector. 

Tampere University participated the winning project with assistant professor Taneli Riihonen’s team in the Unit of Electrical Engineering. They are currently pursuing research on full-duplex counter-drone and radio shield technologies with support from the Finnish Scientific Advisory Board for Defence and the Academy of Finland. 
 

About the EDA Defence Innovation Prize 

The award, organised by EDA since 2018, aims to stimulate defence technological innovation in Europe, in particular by reaching out to non-defence R&T communities and innovators set to play an ever-bigger role in developing and producing Europe’s future defence capabilities. It is also meant to provide non-traditional defence stakeholders (civil industries, SMEs, research organisations, universities, etc.) with an opportunity to showcase their know-how in domains relevant for defence, maximize dual-use synergies and engage in partnerships with the defence sector. 
 

More information 

More details on both projects can be read in the latest issue of EDA’s biannual European Defence Matters magazine which is available here. 

The Agency’s latest European Defence Matters magazine (N°20) is now online with the main spotlight put on the EU’s first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), steered by EDA as the CARD penholder, for which the final report was presented to Defence Ministers on 20 November. A crucial piece of work in the overall effort to move towards more synergies and increased coherence between Member States´ defence planning, spending and capability development through cooperation, the CARD certainly deserved the magazine’s cover story!

We analyse the key CARD findings and recommendations and take Member States’ pulse on the potential take-up of the collaborative opportunities identified by the CARD. We also look at the increasing number of PESCO projects whose implementation benefit from EDA support; also a reminder that the CARD is not an end in itself but a pathfinder towards new collaborative projects which must eventually lead to joint defence capabilities.

Readers of our magazine will also hear from the German EU Presidency’s defence & security priorities and get an insight into the ongoing work on the EU’s Strategic Compass. 

Furthermore, we shed light on the Commission’s new Incubation Forum on Circular Economy in European Defence as well as on EDA’s cooperation with the EU Satellite Center.

Finally, we present the winning projects of the 2020 EDA Defence Innovation Prize and assess at the prospects of EU defence beyond 2030. 

Have a look immediately and enjoy your reading!

The magazine is available here.

The Agency’s latest European Defence Matters magazine (N°20) is now online with the main spotlight put on the EU’s first Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), steered by EDA as the CARD penholder, for which the final report was presented to Defence Ministers on 20 November. A crucial piece of work in the overall effort to move towards more synergies and increased coherence between Member States´ defence planning, spending and capability development through cooperation, the CARD certainly deserved the magazine’s cover story!

We analyse the key CARD findings and recommendations and take Member States’ pulse on the potential take-up of the collaborative opportunities identified by the CARD. We also look at the increasing number of PESCO projects whose implementation benefit from EDA support; also a reminder that the CARD is not an end in itself but a pathfinder towards new collaborative projects which must eventually lead to joint defence capabilities.

Readers of our magazine will also hear from the German EU Presidency’s defence & security priorities and get an insight into the ongoing work on the EU’s Strategic Compass. 

Furthermore, we shed light on the Commission’s new Incubation Forum on Circular Economy in European Defence as well as on EDA’s cooperation with the EU Satellite Center.

Finally, we present the winning projects of the 2020 EDA Defence Innovation Prize and assess at the prospects of EU defence beyond 2030. 

Have a look immediately and enjoy your reading!

The magazine is available here.

 

EDA’s longstanding Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) project entered a new phase on 19 November 2020 when the Agency launched its third phase, focused on the development of a next generation system. Whereas the precedent project phase (MARSUR II) dealt with network maintenance and addressed outstanding issues with the MARSUR Exchange System (MEXS, the software ensuring the automatic exchange of maritime surveillance data among the participants), MARSUR III will also enhance the system’s interoperability with other maritime security regimes, primarily with the EU’s Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE). The overall objective is to enhance MARSUR’s operational use in CSDP missions and operations.  

During phase III, MARSUR will therefore aim at: 

• transitioning to a new MEXS based on state-of-the-art technologies
• investigating options for exchange of classified information within the network and their following implementation
• facilitating its connectivity with other maritime security regimes with a focus on the EU CISE
• enhancing the operational use of the MARSUR Network and support to EU maritime engagements and maritime CSDP missions and operations.

The project, led by Germany, has the support of 15 additional contributing countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden). In addition, the participation of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) brings unique added value to the project, while at the same time providing SatCen with additional information that will nurture its own products/services for the benefit of its users. 

In view of the enhanced capability to be offered by MARSUR III, EDA is confident that more maritime EU Member States will join the project in the future, which would further improve the EU-wide maritime surveillance coverage. The operational added value of MARSUR was emphasised by the choice of EU Member States to rely on MARSUR for the pilot case, in the Gulf of Guinea, of the Coordinated Maritime Presence Concept (CMP). EDA is cooperating closely with the EEAS, including the EUMS, as the planning phase is ongoing. The further development of MEXS foreseen under the MARSUR III phase will position the MARSUR network as the tool of choice for current and future maritime engagements at EU level, including for CSDP missions and operations.
 

More information:

• MARSUR (EDA project page)

 

 

 

 

The first meeting of the newly created European Defence Standardisation Committee (EDSC) was held recently at EDA (via videoconference). The new body, which replaces the former Materiel Standardisation Group, will support and coordinate participating Member States’ efforts to move towards enhanced European defence standardisation with the aim of facilitating CSDP missions & operations and strengthening the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB).  

The EDSC’s goal is to coordinate and – over time – define practical and tangible deliverables that will support collaborative defence capability development, enhancing standardisation processes towards ensuring an up-to-date Defence Standardisation policy. One of the novel approaches of the new committee is to interact with a wider range of standardisation stakeholders, bringing together participating Member States with high-level representatives from various EU institutions, international organisations, industry associations and even relevant non-EU stakeholders of the defence standardisation community.  

The first EDSC meeting, which took place on 27 October, gathered representatives from 17 countries (participating EDA Member States as well as Ukraine, which has signed an Administrative Agreement with EDA and is a regular EDSC member), the European Commission (DG DEFIS), the EU Military Staff (EUMS),  NATO Standardisation Office (NSO), the European Committee for Standardization and Electrotechnical Standardization (CEN-CENELEC), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as well as the standardisation body for the European aerospace industry (ASD-STAN). They agreed on some key future actions to support the European Defence Standardisation Strategy and its implementation plan, namely by creating expert forums for the restructuring of the European Defence Standardisation governance, such as the European Defence Standardisation Management Group (EDSMG), a body that will serve to bridge the strategic decisions with the practical implementing of the European Defence Standardisation Strategy at expert level.  
 

EDSTAR review 

Participants of the first EDSC meeting also discussed the upcoming launch of an EDA study, which will analyse the European Defence Standards Reference System (EDSTAR), a web platform set up by EDA in 2011, which offers guidance to governmental organisations and defence industry on the use of roughly 2,500 standards and “standard-like” specifications to optimise effectiveness, efficiency, and interoperability of their application. The EDSTAR review is one of the actions foreseen under the standardisation implementation plan. The aim of the study is to assess whether EDSTAR is still the most appropriate and efficient online standardisation tool for supporting the full spectrum of EU defence cooperation, interoperability, and capabilities development. EDSTAR study’s results will serve as a basis for deciding on the way ahead in European defence standardisation. 

Overall, EDSC decision outcomes will draw comprehensive roadmaps for European defence standardisation in the years to come. The next EDSC meeting in 2021 will have important standardisation actors on board, such as the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) – following the recent contribution agreements signed between the European Commission and OCCAR for management of defence ESSOR projects – and other key international civilian and military standardisation bodies.