EDA News

On 13-14 October 2015, the European Defence Agency (EDA) organised the Test & Evaluation (T&E) Collaboration Workshop to bring the concept of T&E Collaboration support closer to the Member States and, for the first time, to provide practical training in cooperation mechanisms and available tools. 

Representatives of six Member States participated in the training event, i.e. Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Romania, and the United Kingdom. The workshop was directed to national test centres, project managers and coordinators who may request the EDA T&E Collaboration support. 

The workshop’s agenda covered the whole package of available tools, not only the Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB). Additionally, it offered practical training opportunities with exercises and tests to improve the understanding of the T&E Collaboration operation. 

The workshop started with the theory part, during which the participants were presented with how the EDA T&E Collaboration works, along with some way ahead for the future. The practical part of the training included live exercises with the use of dedicated support tools. In particular, the Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB) was used for initiating cooperation, the Collaboration Database (CODOBA) tool for the management of the cooperation, and the Capability Development Plan (CDP)  for capability implications. Additionally, the training touched upon the standardisation aspects in accordance with the European Defence Standards Reference System (EDSTAR). 

The workshop participants discussed the utility of support tools and the practical ways of cooperation under the different schemes, e.g. test arrangements, Category A/B projects, working groups and EDSTAR expert groups. “The  constructive feedback from the participants will enable us to further optimise the tools and make them as user-friendly as possible,” said Thomas Honke, an EDA project officer on T&E, Qualification and Standardisation. The T&E Collaboration Workshop ended with an official hand-over ceremony of certificates. 

The EDA plans to offer further annual T&E collaboration training events using this format.

Background

The European Defence Agency has taken up the initiative of supporting European Test and Evaluation (T&E) Collaboration in 2013 in a systematic approach. Since that time, the DTEB database has been created enabling enhanced networking amongst T&E facilities and capabilities in Europe. The database is additionally linked to the EDSTAR, CODABA and CDP tools in order to allow swift identification of potential cooperation opportunities and future T&E capability requirements for common staff targets. Moreover, the EDA has initiated a crosscutting T&E expert group in EDSTAR to identify best practice T&E standardisation and to further stimulate T&E cooperation.

More information: 

• Project page Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB) 
• Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB) factsheet

The European Defence Agency (EDA) is continuing to promote maritime affairs and to develop, with Member States, the next generation of mine counter measure solutions via the successful delivery of Unmanned Maritime Systems projects. 

The latest of the fifteen coordinated projects to be successfully delivered, that comprise the Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) Programme, one of the largest in the Agency, is the SIRAMIS project. This Dutch-led project, consisted of seven Contributing Members and addressed the knowledge gap of ship signatures with the overall aim of understanding ship signature interaction with multi-influence mines at a close range. This project presented a considerable challenge for the consortium, which comprised of industry, national research centres and academia, both in terms of signature measurement and signature analysis. It also placed an emphasis on cooperation and mutual support, which are the hallmarks of the EDA projects. 

With the successful delivery of this project, plans are at an advanced stage for a follow-on project that will build on the advancements already made and will further address the modelling and simulation dimensions. A feature of the UMS programme is the coordination between projects, and the developments and gains made have positive implications for the follow-on Modular Lightweight Mine Sweeping project that will be launched shortly. 

Maritime Conferences

The EDA is co-organising two conferences on maritime topics. These conferences present an opportunity to engage with key stakeholders and to fully explore and address the pertinent issues relating to the maritime domain. 

The first conference will be held on 29th October 2015 in Berlin and is co-organised with EuroDefense Deutschland. The conference will focus on key questions that relate to UMS and principally address the operational perspective of the introduction of UMS, collaborative efforts resulting in technological advancements and, lastly, the area of legislation, safety and regulation will be explored.  

The second conference will take place on the 12/13 November 2015 in Nicosia and is co-organised with the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus. The conference will be  conducted within the framework of the Luxembourg Presidency of the European Council. The focus of the conference will be on the Maritime Security Strategy and it will explore the challenges and potential benefits of the implementation of the strategy via its action plan. In particular, the conference will address Europe’s sea lines of communication and the challenges facing European navies. It will also examine the potential of the strategy to be considered as a catalyst for Civilian Military coordination.

More information:

• Invitation for Maritime Unmanned Systems Conference
• Invitation for Maritime Security Conference
• Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) research 

The European Defence Agency invites all users of its Procurement Gateway to participate in a user experience survey. The gateway features defence related business opportunities and information. It aims at providing easy access to defence related information for European government officials, as well as industry representatives and researchers. 

The survey, available until 30.10.2015, will allow the Agency to better understand the needs and expectations of gateway users. It only takes a couple of minutes to be completed and all data shared will be of course treated with complete confidentiality and anonymity.

Share your user feedback, help us improve!

Participate in the survey here.

The Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg has adopted the revised decision on the statute, seat and operational rules of the European Defence Agency.

The text is available here in all EU languages.

As of 1 October, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has taken over the provision of Satellite Communications (SatCom) services for the EU Training Mission (EUTM) in Somalia.

EUTM Somalia is the first CSDP military mission to draw on the option of the Agency to cover its requirement for SatCom services. Earlier this year, Athena - the mechanism established to finance CSDP military operations - joined the Agency’s EU SatCom Market as part of its efforts to improve the procurement process of the different operations. 

Through the Agency, the mission benefits from a strategic link between Somalia and Europe. The services include rental, shipping and installation of a C-band remote terminal in Mogadishu International Airport as well as a high data rate unclassified satellite link with anchoring in Europe. The services include also 24/7 technical support and on site-intervention if required.

In the coming months, the Agency will also take over the provision of Mobile Satellite Services for the operations EUNAVFOR Atalanta, EUTM Mali and EUTM Somalia as well as ATHENA Central.

Speaking about the cooperation, Brigadier General Antonio Maggi, EUTM Somalia Operation Commander said: “Thanks to the excellent cooperation between the EUTM J6 team, EDA and the contractor, EUTM Somalia will benefit from a reliable and secure connection with Europe for its Command and Control chain.”

EDA’s Chief Executive, Jorge Domecq added: “Supporting CSDP operations is one of the core missions of the EDA. I am confident this first example will pave the way for other CSDP military operations to make extensive use of all the support the Agency can provide.”

EUTM Somalia

On 10 April 2010, the European Union launched a military training mission in Somalia (EUTM Somalia) in order to contribute to strengthening the Federal Government and the institutions of Somalia. This support is part of the EU's comprehensive engagement in Somalia, which aims to support stabilising the country and to respond to the needs of the Somali people.

Since 2010, EUTM Somalia has contributed to the training of approximately 3,600 Somali soldiers with a focus on the training of Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), Junior Officers, specialists and trainers. 

EU SatCom Market

Within the EU SatCom Market project, EDA acts as the central purchasing body on behalf of the contributing members. It purchases the services from a commercial provider. The project uses a ‘pay-per-use’ model, so members do not have to contribute with regular fees, instead they only pay for what they order. Since May 2013, 24 orders have been passed for a total value of around €4 million. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, Romania, the United Kingdom and the Athena Mechanism are members of the project. Further participation is open to all EDA participating Member States as well as all entities entitled to take part in Agency activities.

The Athena Mechanism

Athena is the mechanism established to administer the financing of the common costs of European Union operations having military or defence implications governed by Council Decision 2015/528/CFSP. The Council Decision allows for arrangements to be signed with union bodies to facilitate procurement in operations in the most cost-effective manner.

 

More information

• News "EDA supports EUTM Mali to enhance medical facilities" (8 September 2015)
• News "Athena joins EU Satcom Market" (18 June 2015)
• News: "EDA signs cooperation arrangement with Athena" (2 March 2015)
• EU SatCom Market project page
• Operations Support project page

 

The European Defence Agency (EDA) last week successfully installed energy management equipment at camp Koulikoro, the location for the European Union’s Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali. The equipment is part of EDA’s Smart Camp Technical Demonstrator project which analyses the benefits of integrating new technologies into traditional power grids for deployed camps.

The elements installed include 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. The test building is occupied by the Belgium contingent who will provide valuable feedback regarding end-user experience with energy demand management. 

Objective of Demonstrator

The demonstrator will be installed initially for a test phase of twelve weeks. The objectives are to:

1. Test efficiency of various types of photovoltaic panels in specific climatic conditions;
2. Test the integration of renewables with battery storage in a deployment scenario;
3. Test demand management technology and its impact, if any, on inhabitants;
4. Raise awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energy as a military capability;
5. Encourage energy efficient behaviour among troops;
6. Collect reliable data for analysis and sharing with other Member States and further work;
7. Collect data to develop benchmarks for planning support tools for CSDP operations.

Further Opportunities for Energy & Environment Management

Following the test phase, further work can be envisaged including an upscaling of the equipment installed to provide more renewable power to the camp, water management technologies, waste management technologies including waste to energy conversion and further efficiency measures. A full report will be presented at the next Energy & Environment working group meeting on 12 and 13 November in Brussels.

 

More information:

• More information on the Agency's energy and environment programme is available here. 

On 7 October, EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq met with Pedro Morenés, Spanish Minister of Defence, to exchange views on cooperation opportunities and assess ways to enhance Spain’s involvement in EDA projects. Mr Domecq also visited the EU Satellite Centre for discussions with Director Pascal Legai.

Jorge Domecq and Pedro Morenés had a fruitful exchange of views, especially on different aspects of military aviation and space initiatives currently covered by the Agency. Other topics discussed were the European Tactical Airlift Centre in Zaragoza (this centre will be established in the framework of the Agency’s air transport programme by 2016), EDA's key programme on Government Satellite Communications (GovSatCom) which is led by Spain and other areas of EDA's work such as on Research and Technology. Discussions also covered broader aspects with focus on EDA's role to ensure civil/military synergies aiming to achieve efficiencies, in line with June 2015 Heads of State and Government tasks. Mr Domecq also met with the the Spanish Secretary of State of Defence, the Spanish Deputy Chief of Air Force, as well as the National Armaments Director.

The visit to Madrid also gave occasion to enhance cooperation between the EDA and the European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen). Jorge Domecq and Pascal Legai agreed that common challenges in operations should be explored through EDA's expertise on capability development, for example as regards earth observation, on the grounds of the complementary roles of the two agencies. Other topics of discussion were cooperation in space surveillance and tracking, maritime and border surveillance as well as cyber.

 

More information:

• Cyber defence project page
• Military airworthiness project page
• SESAR project page

Thirty two participants representing eleven countries and twenty-four industrial and governmental organisations met for the second edition of the European Reference Open Architecture Standard for a Modern Integrated Electronic Mission System in Military Land Vehicles (LAVOSAR II) workshop, held at the European Defence Agency (EDA) on 9 July 2015. 

Very positive comments after the first LAVOSAR workshop organised in 2014 resulted in the continuation of an initiative to promote and develop an open architecture standard for military land vehicles. It is important to underline the fact that previously involved industry unanimously supported the idea and joined in for the second session.

Whilst LAVOSAR I focused mainly on mission systems of land vehicles of participating member states, LAVOSAR II went one step further to specify in more detail areas not covered before, e.g. selected aspects of maintenance and logistics. Several work packages which are currently under investigation in the ongoing LAVOSAR II study were incorporated in the workshop agenda. These included elements such as Architectural Domain Analysis and Requirements, Workflow and Procedure Update, Through Live Capability, Open Reference Architecture Standards Update, Alignment with NATO General Vehicle Architecture (NGVA) and Architecture Contribution to the EDA Repository.

An important aspect of the LAVOSAR project is how it dovetails with NATO General Vehicle Architecture (NGVA) standardization efforts. As highlighted by Member States at the CapTech Ground Systems meetings, the LAVOSAR work should  complement other international organisations’ efforts regarding the construction of an efficient open architecture Marek Kalbarczyk, EDA moderator of the CapTech stressed the importance of the initiative: “Implementation of open architecture to mission systems for land vehicles would bring not only whole life cost savings of between 10 - 25% to Member States, but would also simplify logistics and increase operational functionalities.”

Lively and fruitful discussions held throughout the workshop added substantial value to the ongoing LAVOSAR II study and will be integrated in the study results to advance work in the open architecture domain.

More information: 

• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop Study Presentation
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 1
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 2 
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 3  
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 4
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 5
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop 6
• LAVOSAR II Industrial Workshop Minutes  
• News "LAVOSAR Study Delivers Results" (16 June 2014)

On 2 October 2015, the last out of fourteen chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection projects within the Joint Investment Programme CBRN (JIP CBRN) was signed by Henk Geveke, Director TNO Defence and Security, on behalf of the consortium, and Rini Goos, Deputy Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA).

The signatures give way to the project “RACED”, which aims at enhancement of decontamination (DECON) procedures of material or equipment exposed to chemical or biological warfare agents. It will focus on a scientific and technological consideration of the complex question of “how clean is clean enough?”

The “RACED" project will assess DECON procedures and, finally, will result in a prototype of a tool that shall assist operational commanders in minimizing the after-decontamination exposure risk, and assist them in making decisions on the assessment of the sufficient level of DECON, remaining hazards in terms of exposure to human beings and necessity of taking additional steps. 

“RACED” will be conducted by a consortium led by TNO from the Netherlands with partners coming from four more Member States and Norway: FFI (Norway), ITQB (Portugal) LBDB (Portugal), ACMIT (Austria), ADL (Austria), RMA (Belgium) and SUJCHBO (Czech Republic). The project is one of fourteen projects under the EDA Joint Investment Programme CBRN protection (JIP-CBRN), set up as Category A programme and funded by twelve Member States plus Norway with almost 12 million euro budget. It serves as an EDA contribution for the European Framework Cooperation, a joint effort of the European Commission and the EDA on maximising synergies between civilian and defence-related research activities.

The JIP-CBRN Programme Arrangement was signed in March 2012 on the ministerial level and two calls for proposals were conducted in 2012 and 2013, covering various Research &Technology projects within the CBRN area, such as: stand-off detection for chemical agents, point detection of biological agents, unknown samples handling, modelling & simulation of CBRN architectures, decontamination, protection equipment and sensor networking. With seven projects initiated within the first call frame, one has already been accomplished. This year, the “Biotype” project successfully ended with a demonstrator device with an integrated biosensor for point detection of airborne bio-threats based on anti-body lab on a chip technology.

More information:

• CBRN Joint Investment Programme 

 

More information:

• Interview: The hybrid warfare challenge (22 July 2015)
• Project page: hybrid warfare 
  

From 1 to 2 October, the 2015 European Air Transport Symposium will take place in Vienna. Hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Defence and Sport and ran by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the symposium will bring together around 80 participants from the European Member States’ air transport community. The focus of the event is on improving operations and training from the operator’s perspective. The delegates will discuss several operational and training challenges with a single objective of tangibly improving European air transport interoperability.

“The 2015 Symposium is the sixth to be organised by EDA in support of the European Air Transport Fleet Programme and builds on the success of the other air transport training events we have ran over 2015 in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.  My thanks go to the Austrian Ministry of Defence and Sport for hosting what I am sure will be another excellent event”, said Roland Van Reybroeck, EDA’s Director for Cooperation Planning and Support

Brigadier General Karl Gruber, Austria’s Air Chief, said, “It is a very honourable task for the Austrian Armed Forces to host the 2015 Symposium in our capital Vienna. In times of limited resources, but permanently growing mission challenges, cooperation will play a decisive role to maintain our operational freedom of action. One of the most important cooperation fields is military air transport, enabling us to project our forces and to sustain operations, even when civil transport and ATC systems are no longer available. The Symposium offers an excellent opportunity, to discuss our common challenges and concerns."
 
EDA continues to build strong links with the Europe’s air power experts across a range of capabilities. The air transport programme remains vibrant with plans to further expand a range of training opportunities over 2015 and to establish a European Air Transport Training Centre in Zaragoza Spain by the end of 2016.

 

Background

The European Air Transport Fleet project (EATF) is designed to improve airlift provision within the European Union. EATF provides a flexible and inclusive partnership for national and multinational military air transport fleets and organisations in Europe. It addresses the way different air transport assets are acquired, operated, supported, and managed to ensure this is done in the most efficient way possible. The long term vision of the EATF is to establish a robust network linking various European air transport entities aiming at the efficient employment of all present and future air transport capabilities made available by the participating Member States for military needs, regardless of type or origin. 

Deliverables of the EATF are among others yearly training events (European Air Transport Training) and life airlift courses (European Airlift Tactics Training Course) as well as the European Air Transport Symposium.

 

More information 

• More information on the EATF is available here.
• News "Successful airlift training series continues" (9 Sept 2015)

The European External Action Service (EEAS), in the framework of the Luxembourg Presidency and in cooperation with the European Military Staff and Crisis Management and Planning Directorate, organised a conference on Countering Hybrid Threats, held on 24 September 2015. Jorge Domecq, the European Defence Agency (EDA) Chief Executive was among the keynote speakers to present the EDA work and priorities regarding tackling hybrid threats. 

The opening remarks were delivered by HE Ambassador Stephan Müller, the Luxembourg Representative to the Political and Security Committee (PSC), whereas the keynote speeches were presented by Mr Maciej Popowski, the EEAS Deputy Secretary General, Jorge Domecq, the EDA Chief Executive, and a representative of the Space, Policy, Copernicus and Defence Diractorate of the European Commission.

“One thing is certain, hybrid warfare poses a significant challenge to the EU, its citizens and its interests, and time is of the essence to develop a joint approach to effectively tackle hybrid threats,” said Jorge Domecq and presented three main areas the EDA activities are currently focused on. In particular, Jorge Domecq indicated capability development, civil-military synergies and EU-NATO relations. The EDA Chief Executive announced the upcoming EDA-led war-gaming exercise in February 2016 that shall stress-test available defence capabilities against hybrid threats. “The aim is not to re-invent and come up with a set of new capabilities, instead, the exercise will allow us to see where extra attention is needed and how the capability that exists should be used,” he explained. Moreover, Jorge Domecq underlined the necessity of dual use within Research & Technology domain to avoid “spending twice”, thus to enhance civil-military synergy. Additionally, he emphasised the EU-NATO complementary approach in both directions regarding countering hybrid threats, claiming that this is “not an option, but an absolute need”.

Jorge Domecq’s speech, along with the two other keynote presentations, provided solid grounds for fruitful discussions continued in three panels, which were devoted to various aspects of facing hybrid threats. Among a number of topics raised, the conference participants dwelled upon identifying vulnerabilities hybrid warfare makes use of, shaping awareness of hybrid threats, resilience and deterrence against possible threats, aspects of information sharing  or EU-NATO cooperation. As a matter of fact, Roland van Reybroeck, the EDA Director Cooperation Planning and Support was a speaker of the third panel discussion and talked about building resilience.

Beyond achieving better understanding on hybrid threats, the discussions held at the conference will contribute to the ongoing works on the Joint Framework on Hybrid Warfare that shall be prepared by EEAS by the end of December, together with the Commission and EDA. “If Europe succeeds in offering a credible answer to hybrid treats, it will certainly enable us to make a very meaningful contribution to the security view, becoming a relevant partner and a security provider rather than a security consumer,” said Jorge Domecq, the EDA Chief Executive.

More information:

• Interview: The hybrid warfare challenge (22 July 2015)
• Project page: hybrid warfare 
  
  

On 22 September, the European Defence Agency (EDA) hosted the 7th edition of the SES/SESAR Military Implementation Forum, bringing together the top management of the European Commission, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Eurocontrol, the SESAR Joint Undertaking, the SESAR Deployment Manager, NATO and of the defence community. They addressed the following challenges: What is the foreseeable evolution of military aviation and airspace usage over the next two decades? How to accommodate the military vision in the aviation regulatory and operational environment? How are military interests taken into account in SESAR? 

Jorge Domecq, the Chief Executive of the EDA, underlined that SES/SESAR is one of his top priorities: “EDA’s role is twofold: first, bridging the military with the Commission and EASA; second, developing incentives and solutions to engage the military. Let me also insist on the close cooperation with NATO on this issue.” 

The following issues have been in particular highlighted during the discussion: on the regulatory part, EASA would actively interact with the military. Given there is a clear trend towards digitalisation and connectivity, cyber-security should be at the heart of the community's attention.  Through a total aviation approach, aviation related issues should be embraced in a systematic and consistent manner.

More information:

• Feature "Sharing European Skies" (3 August 2015)
• Project page "Single European Sky"

The European Defence Agency (EDA) is currently looking for Seconded National Experts (SNEs) with the following profiles: Project Officer Education, Training and Exercise, Project Officer Navigation and Air/Missile Defence, Project Officer Engage, Project Officer Land Programmes, Project Officer Communication and Information Systems, Project Officer Helicopter Training. Candidates must apply via the EDA website by 15 October 2015.

The Agency is an “outward-facing” organisation, constantly interacting with its shareholders, the participating Member States, as well as with a wide range of stakeholders. It works in an integrated way, with multi-disciplinary teams representing all the Agency’s functional areas, to realise its objectives including its annual Work Programme and its rolling three-year Work Plan. Its business processes are flexible and oriented towards achieving results. Staff at all levels need to demonstrate the corresponding qualities of flexibility, innovation, and team-working; to work effectively with shareholders and stakeholder groups, formal and informal; and to operate without the need for detailed direction.

The above mentioned positions are located in the three operational directorates of the Agency: Capability, Armament & Technology, Cooperation Planning & Support and European Synergies and Innovation. All positions are for Seconded National Experts (SNEs). SNE’s are persons employed by governments, ministries or governmental agencies of the participating Member States, who are seconded to the EDA so that it can use their expertise in a particular field. An SNE must be a national of one of the participating Member States. 

More information:

• Current EDA vacancies

The third Strategic Decision Making Course & Exercise on Cyber Crisis Management within the framework of the European Defence Agency (EDA) takes place in Vienna from the 14th to 16th September 2015. The event is a joint initiative of the EDA, the European Cyber Security Initiative (Estonia), the Austrian Ministry of Defence and the Austrian Ministry of Interior. Forty representatives from the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the Ministries of Interior, Justice, European and International Affairs, Defence and Sports as well as from seven private companies participate in the exercise which is hosted at the Austrian Defence College. The exercise is also observed by 40 national and international cyber security experts.

The main aim of the exercise is to prepare strategic leaders to deal with cyberspace crisis management processes in complex situations and to promote a cyber security and cyber defence strategic culture. It also concentrates on stimulating national synergies and to foster EU member states cooperation. 

The exercise set-up includes presentations as well as a decision-making exercise and an in-depth feedback session. The exercise audience is confronted with a customised fictional political scenario where a crisis situation outside  EU boundaries spills back to an EU member state, here Austria. Manifestations of this spill over are an escalating sequence of targeted cyber-attacks of different degree of severity which are affecting both Austrian public and private sector entities, including national critical infrastructures such as telecommunications and Internet service providers, the energy sector, water supply and the public health care sector;all of this has had an impact on the public up to the level of casualties. The exercise audience is asked to apply the existing Austrian legal and political framework to the escalating scenario. At the same time participants must react to the population’s perception of the situation and to maintain public order. The exercise is following a playbook of more than 200 pages. 

Cyber defence – a key capability

The previous two cyber defence exercises for decision-makers were organised in Portugal in May 2014 and Prague in June 2015. The initiative is part of the EDA’s cyber defence work strand which among others aims at improving training, education and exercises opportunities as highlighted in the "Cyber Defence Policy Framework" which was adopted by the European Council in November 2014. 

"The 2013 EDA landscaping study on cyber defence capabilities among EDA member states revealed a need for harmonised cyber training for decision makers. The present course and exercise are the direct result of this study. The courses are constantly being improved according to participant’s feedback to ensure that our offer corresponds with Member State’s needs", said Peter Round, Director Capability, Armament & Technology at the European Defence Agency.

Background

Cyber defence is the military dimension of cyber security. The military requirements are to prepare for, prevent, detect, respond to, recover from and learn lessons from attacks, damage or un-authorized access originated from cyber space affecting systems and services that support and enable military tasks and operations. 

In the EDA’s capability development plan, cyber defence is one of the priority actions. A project team of EDA and its participating Member States' representatives is responsible for jointly developing cyber defence capabilities within the EU common security and defence policy (CSDP). A network of EDA and Member States research & technology experts support this work by collaborative activities delivering the required technologies at the right time. All of this is positioned next to existing and planned efforts by civil communities (national and EU institutions) and NATO. Given that threats are multifaceted, a comprehensive approach is taken, seeking to enhance synergies between the civilian and military domains in protecting critical cyber assets.

 

More information

• News "Cyber defence exercise for decision makers" (22 June 2015)
• Cyber defence project page
  
  

On September 16th , Mr. Zoran Jolevski, Minister of Defence of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia visited EDA’s Chief Executive at EDA headquarters. During the visit Minister Jolevski expressed the interest of his country to cooperate closely with the Agency in the future. Jorge Domecq thanked Minister Jolevski and outlined the process on how Third Parties may cooperate with EDA.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) continue to cause significant casualties in operations as well as in civil surroundings. Therefore, countering them remains a priority for all participating Member States. There are situations where the use of normal explosives ordnance disposal procedures is inappropriate due to the operational situation, and Manual Neutralisation Techniques – a last resort of Commanders - might be required to counter the threat. On 8 September, Austria and the European Defence Agency organised the second Distinguished Visitors day during the margins of Exercise “European Guardian 2015” at the Austrian Logistics School facilities of Vienna, Austria.

Forty participants from Austria, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Republic of Serbia, Sweden, and UK, attended the Distinguished Visitors’ Day of the European Guardian 2015 Manual Neutralisation Techniques Courses & Exercises programme. Representatives from EUROPOL and the C-IED Centre of Excellence also took part in the event. 

The day was presided over by the Austrian Armed Forces Capabilities Director Brigadier General Peter Resch and the EDA Capability, Armament & Technology Director, Peter Round. Both recognised the relevance of the programme and insisted on the need to continue to develop it in the future. 

A live demonstration, executed by an MNT specialists team, was staged in the margins of the meeting. The demonstration consisted of the disposal of an IED which held a chemical payload and several complex initiation systems. Attendees not only had the opportunity to witness all MNT teams immersed in their tasks but also to discuss their activity and the latest innovations in MNT kits. 

Attendees discussed their expectations of the programme during their visit to the specific “urban” simulated training area. It was generally agreed that one of the most relevant take away points was that MNT operators are highly trained and few in number, and that given the high degree of specialisation needed, frequent refresher training of MNT operators was considered crucial. To that end, the Manual Neutralisation Techniques Courses & Exercises programme is extremely valuable. The next milestone within the programme will be the first one week MNT refresher course to be held in November 2015 at the Austrian Logistics School.

 

More information:

• Manual Neutralisation Techniques Courses and Exercises (MNTCE) project page

The MIDCAS (Mid Air Collision Avoidance System) consortium together with the European Defence Agency (EDA) announced the final results of theMIDCAS project at the final stakeholder workshop in Brussels. Major milestones included flight tests with fully automatic avoidance manoeuvres of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS). 

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) represent an important part of future aviation. RPAS operations are expected to benefit European citizens in the fields of security, disaster relief and many other activities. It is therefore important that RPAS can fly in non-segregated airspace together with today's manned aviation. MIDCAS as the European Detect and Avoid project is a cornerstone to prepare a safe integration of RPAS in non-segregated airspace. 

The sixth and final MIDCAS Workshop in Brussels 

Since 2010, five MIDCAS stakeholder workshops have been organised providing opportunity for valuable discussions and exchange of information with stakeholders about the project results and findings. The final workshop, which took place 8 and 9 September, provided a summary of the project, final results and conclusions regarding operational and technical recommendations. ”About a hundred committed and engaged stakeholders from around the world took part in the workshop. This manifests the will and necessity of working together to bring Detect and Avoid to a conclusion” says Johan Pellebergs, MIDCAS project leader. 

 

Flight tests and simulations

Flights with a demonstrator Detect & Avoid (D&A) system integrated in the Sky-Y RPAS test bed have been successful. Fully automatic coupled avoidance manoeuvres were performed by the RPAS based on combined cooperative and non-cooperative detection as well as non-cooperative detection only against manned aircraft on collision course. Flight tests have covered numerous scenarios and sensor combinations bringing RPAS traffic integration a significant step closer to reality. The Detect and Avoid system tested, performs collision avoidance and traffic avoidance using data fusion for various combinations of the included detection technologies. 

Several types of simulations including Monte Carlo simulations, real-time simulations and Air Traffic Control operational simulations have also been performed to validate the system and operational requirements successfully. 

 

MIDCAS is the European Detect & Avoid Project 

The MIDCAS project was launched in 2009 by five contributing Member States (France, Germany, Italy and Spain under the lead of Sweden) under the framework of the European Defence Agency, with a total budget of €50 million. “EDA together with its participating Member States are committed to the operation of RPAS in European airspace coordinated with all other military and civilian traffic. MIDCAS has taken a key step forward to prepare the next generation of high performance European RPAS”, Peter Round, EDA Capability, Armament & Technology Director, says. 

MIDCAS has been carried out by an industrial consortium composed of eleven partners: Saab (project leader) from Sweden, Sagem and Thales from France, Airbus D&S, Diehl BGT Defence, DLR and ESG from Germany, Alenia Aermacchi, Selex ES, CIRA from Italy and Indra from Spain. Throughout the project, external stakeholders such as EASA, EUROCONTROL, EUROCAE and JARUS, were involved in the process. 

 

More information:

• News "MIDCAS demonstrates progress for RPAS integration into civil airspace" (30 April 2015)  
• News "Successful ESA-EDA Flight Demonstration on RPAS Insertion into Civil Airspace" (26 April 2015) 
• EDA initiatives in the field of RPAS

Seven aircraft from six countries (Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) currently gather at Zaragoza Airbase in Spain for the fourth training event this year organised in the framework of the European Air Transport Fleet (EATF). From 6 to 18 September, participants of the European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Course (EAATTC) will undergo a robust training in order to enhance interoperability between European air forces. A total of 130 flight hours and 63 sorties are planned.

The first week of the course will start with tactical awareness academics spread over four half-days and basic flying sorties. The complexity of the missions will increase over the course of the second week to involve low-level flying, cargo and personnel air drop, engine running operations, air-to-air (F18 and Eurofighters) and surface-to-air threats as well as maximum effort landings. At the end of the two weeks course, crews will receive a graduation certificate and patch.   

 

Host country: Spain 

The European Air Transport Command (EATC), EDA and Spain as host nation constitute the “Core Planning Team” of the flying event. Together with a team of international tactical instructors from seven different countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, France and Germany), they will challenge the course participants. This is the fourth time that Spain is hosting an EATF event. Moreover Spain has been selected to host the permanent European Airlift Centre (ETAC) with its tactical arrangement currently under development. The Initial Operating Capability (IOC) of the centre is foreseen for September 2016.   

 

Improving interoperability 

Initiated by the European Defence Agency and run by the European Air Transport Command, the EAATTC series of courses aim to provide air transport crews with a robust airlift tactics training syllabus in order to enhance interoperability between European air forces. It takes crews into a theatre-deployment mindset, exposing them to airland and airdrop missions in a tactically-challenging environment. Emphasis is put on aircraft operations and on application of procedures in a changing environment. The EAATTC series of courses is one of the deliverables of the European Air Transport Fleet partnership, launched in 2011 by 20 participating nations under the framework of the European Defence Agency.  

More information:

• Pictures are available on Flickr
• The EAATTC15-3 factsheet is available here.
• More information on the EATF is available here.
• Visit the website of the European Air Transport Command (EATC).

The European Defence Agency (EDA) provided technical, contractual and administrative support to the EU Training Mission (EUTM) Mali regarding the procurement of a biomedical incinerator to be installed in Koulikoro.

The requirement for the new equipment, to meet European standards in case of an EBOLA outbreak, was identified by the operation. EDA´s support was requested in May 2015 and the award decision was signed by the former Operation Commander, Brigadier General Alfonso García-Vaquero Pradal in July 2015. The contract, with a budget of 59.000€, includes transportation and on-site maintenance. The incinerator should be operational by mid-September.

This is the first case conducted under the EDA-Athena cooperation arrangement signed on 27 February 2015 which aims at facilitating direct procurement support to CSDP military operations.

EDA supports CSDP operations and missions to meet their operational needs. Based on the combination of industry knowledge, in-house technical expertise and experience in procurement, the Agency helps operations to optimize procurement procedures in order to save resources.

More information:

• Operations support project page

The third iteration of the prestigious Helicopter Tactics Instructor Course (HTIC) has just started at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, United Kingdom. The course aims to provide selected helicopter instructors with the tactical skills and knowledge to then deliver tactical training within their own organisations and throughout the Helicopter Exercise Programme events, such as Italian Blade exercise and Cold Blade exercise.

The 2015 HTIC is for the first time delivered under an EDA Category B programme, with its own approved programme arrangement signed in March 2015 by Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Additional EDA participating Member States have already shown interest in joining the programme in the near future.

The 2015 course is delivered by the EDA Chief Instructor, and a cadre of instructors from Sweden and the UK. 18 trainee instructors from Austria (OH-58), Sweden (UH-60 and NH-90) and the UK (CH-47) will be challenged to deliver high-end performances across the three main strands of the course, which will culminate in the planning and delivery of the complex Composite Air Operations (COMAO). 

The successful graduates will obtain Bronze or Silver HTI qualifications, corresponding to their experience and skill level. These qualifications are recognised by all the Member States involved in the helicopter programme. The instructors are expected to deliver courses themselves in the future, thus increasing their experience and competence. 33 more instructors from Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden and the UK have already graduated from the previous two courses held in 2013 and 2014.

The ground and simulator phase of HTIC runs until 18 September and starts with the theory, giving a comprehensive introduction to Electronic Warfare and its application for rotary platforms in a hostile environment. Next, it moves on to look at Evasion Training against a range of ground and air threats and the tactics applicable to rotary tasking in non-permissive environments. The theory is then put into practice in the EDA tactics trainers and, finally, the live flying phase, which will be delivered from 28 September to 17 October 2015 at Vidsel range, Sweden. 

More information

• Helicopter Initiatives project page
• News "Final results of Italian Blade 2015" (07 July 2015)
• News "Second Helicopter Tactics Instructor Course Moves on to Sweden" (14 May 2014)