Defence`s Feeds

Business lawyer Christine Lee, who since mid-January MI5 has described as being an "agent" working for Beijing, appears to have

At a time when the US has announced the end of its combat mission in Iraq (IO, 22/12/21), forcing Baghdad

This in-depth analysis examines the nature and scope of enduring and emerging threats to the security of the EU and its Member States, and the challenges to its Eastern Partnership policy, from both the EaP’s protracted conflicts and instability in Belarus. It assesses the EU’s engagement with these conflicts and addresses the potential role of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), including (but not solely) missions and operations. Finally, it explores potential avenues for future co¬operation between the EU and its EaP partners on security and defence (including under the PESCO+, EPF, and EDF frameworks).
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Ukrainian Bogdana Truck-Mounted Howitzer

How a Military Man can Pick up a Woman

Russian Snezhinsk Closed City, Nuclear Weapon Development Center

Exactly one year ago today, a bill to reform the national intelligence agency, the SBU, passed its first reading in

Paris - Le Floch's arrival helps Risk & Co further accentuate its shift towards cyber. The Anticip group's security arm,

Exactly one year ago today, a bill to reform the national intelligence agency, the SBU, passed its first reading in the Rada, Ukraine's parliament (IO, 10/03/21). Ever since, the project driven by SBU boss Ivan Bakanov, has remained stuck at

The US cybersecurity firm Qintel, a partner in Ukraine's Cyberspace Strategies In Action conference, which is due to take place

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi is trying hard to resist China's moves on the country's economy but Zeno D'Agostino's comeback

Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had a telephone meeting with Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 20 January to ensure order had

Not content with reinvigorating its alliance with Islamabad, as illustrated by the $4.2bn loan being granted to the Pakistani central

Paris - Le Floch's arrival helps Risk & Co further accentuate its shift towards cyber. The Anticip group's security arm,

EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý is pursuing his ‘tour des capitales’ this week with a visit to the Czech Republic (26-27 January). Today, he met with Defence Minister Jana Černochová and capability, armaments, research and defence planning representatives at the Ministry of Defence, as well as with Pavel Fischer, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Committee of the Senate of the Parliament. He also had a meeting with the Chief of Defence, General Ales Opata.

The exchange of views with Minister Černochová focused on the implementation of the EU defence initiatives and Czech Republic’s priorities on security and defence for the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Minister Černochová and Mr Šedivý also discussed the participation in EDA’s current and future activities and the need to drive defence innovation in Europe and the prospect of reinforcing EDA's role in supporting Member States in this area, the implications of the EU’s Green Deal policy on the military, the second cycle of the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) which is currently underway, the state of play in the PESCO implementation, the functioning of the European Defence Fund (EDF) as well as the preparations for the EU’s Strategic Compass to be approved in March.

“I want to thank the Czech Republic for its constant support to EDA and its active involvement in the Agency’s activities. As we speak, the country participates in 23 EDA projects and programmes, from helicopter training and the manual neutralisation of improvised explosive devices to medical support and research into innovative materials for defence applications. Let me express a special word of appreciation for the leading role the Czech Republic plays in our Multinational Modular Medical Unit project whose objective is to develop deployable and sustainable multinational Medical Treatment Facilities available for the full spectrum of CSDP missions or other multinational engagements. This is important because we currently lack specific medical assets to perform medical support to crises management operations. The Czech Republic is also active in PESCO, to which it currently participates in 8 projects and is a leading country in the project 'Electronic Warfare Capability and Interoperability Programme for Future JISR Cooperation'. Czech industrial entities also take part in EU funded activities and participate in the projects funded through the EDIDP. Therefore, I can only thank the Czech authorities for their leadership in this important domain, and for their general commitment and support to the European security and defence, as well as to EDA”, Mr Šedivý commented.

The Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová said: “I very much appreciate the opportunity to welcome the delegation of EDA led by Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý, for a two-day visit in Prague. Due to the ongoing pandemic, it is the first official visit of Mr. Šedivý since he assumed his position in the spring of 2020. However, I think that the timing is relevant, as it is only two months ago when our new government started to work. I am happy having this opportunity as one of my priorities as the Minister of Defence is to put greater emphasis on multinational efforts, both in the EU and NATO context. I am glad that we managed to hold two bigger events together with the EDA delegation: a round table discussion with Ministry of Defence managers on the first day, and a seminar with the representatives of national defence industry associations on the second day. When assessing the content of the visit in my personal meeting with Mr. Šedivý, I expressed our full support for the strengthening the role of the EDA within the European defence cooperation. I mentioned CARD and PESCO, and notably welcomed EDA’s efforts of further improving working contacts with the Commission (DG DEFIS) and NATO HQ Staffs. We expect EDA to support us in our focus on defence innovations, particularly emerging disruptive technologies. The role of the Agency in this area is indispensable. Therefore we welcome steps taken towards the creation of a Hub for European Defence Innovation (HEDI). At the same time, we call for complementarity with the NATO efforts as well. I also informed Mr. Šedivý that we see the need for improving participation of our experts in different working formats under the EDA umbrella; it is not an easy task, but we want to work on it. The Czech Republic very much appreciates EDA’s effort around wider EU policies, notable Single European Sky, mobility and on the European Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH); in this context I raised my worry linked to the application of the Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) taxonomy within the Green Deal policy, which in its current application contradicts the interest of European defence industries. This serious problem needs to be resolved, and I expect the Agency to lead a joint campaign. We also briefly touched upon the preparations of the Strategic Compass, which is to be finalised soon; it is an important conceptual document that sets tasks for further developing CSDP, and particularly for strengthening European defence cooperation. The first steps of its implementation fall into period of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. Concerning the Czech EU Presidency, Mr. Šedivý and I also discussed how the Agency could support and participate in different events we plan to organise in the defence area. I assured the Chief Executive that the Czech Republic wants to be an active member of the Agency. Finally, I expressed my support for the Agency-led effort related to the preparation of the Administrative Arrangement between EDA and the U.S. Department of Defense; I believe that meaningful, balanced, and mutually beneficial cooperation with the US will contribute to the strengthening of the Trans-Atlantic partnership”.

Industry event

Today, Mr Šedivý also participated in an industry workshop with Czech defence industry representatives, chaired by the Deputy Minister for Defence Industrial Cooperation, Tomas Kopecny. He also had a bilateral meeting with Jiří Hynek and Kateřina Stejskalová from the Defence and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic (DSIA).

 

French Serval Multi-Role Armored Vehicle

Length of video : 23'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Length of video : 87'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life: 4 Handy Tips to Save Money

The new Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) implements both policies and opportunities of the circular economy into the European defence domain by building common transnational projects. These projects enhance the defence sector’s environmental sustainability and contribute to the EU Green Deal by boosting an efficient use of resources.  IF CEED, which will run for two years, is managed by the European Defence Agency (EDA) with total financial contribution of €784,000 from the European Commission (EU LIFE Programme) and Luxembourg’s Directorate of Defence. 

IF CEED supports the application of the EU Green Deal’s Circular Economy approach to the European defence sector, based on an active and cooperative community that involves EU Member States’ Ministries of Defence, the defence industry, research-and-technology-organisations, academia, financial institutions, private associations, as well as other national and international public bodies. The forum aims to incubate cooperation projects with as many Member States involved as possible. 

EDA Chief Executive, Jiří Šedivý, said: “Under IF CEED, EDA is supporting Ministries of Defence, defence-related industry, and many other actors to take up in a structured and coordinated manner a paramount challenge of our times. Together with the EDA’s other sustainable defence initiatives, IF CEED contributes to the role that EDA is called to play within the implementation of the European Climate Change and Defence Roadmap.”

Circular Economy in Defence  

The benefits of transposing circular economy principles in the defence domain is paramount to reduce environmental impact while also strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy, through greater recycling of resources, lower waste levels and reducing Europe’s dependence on imported strategic materials and components. IF CEED is an important forum to address these challenges. To this end, the forum’s goals are to:  

• Incubate collaborative circular-related projects and their respective consortia, including precise roadmaps;  

• Enable transnational innovation and lessons learnt to apply the circular economy concept to the defence sector, while creating new business models; 
• Promote new circular-related knowledge and skills across all defence stakeholders. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Luxembourg, Mr François Bausch, said: “Recent assessments have shown us that value chains in the defence sector contribute significantly to the heavy carbon footprint of defence. Besides that, in a world of increased competition for raw materials, we urgently need to improve our systems of reusing and recycling such materials. These facts have motivated Luxembourg to support the set-up of the Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence. We see a great opportunity here to promote and be part of potential collaborative projects and roadmaps to boost circularity in European defence.”

Incubation Clusters 

By addressing the technological and organisational aspects needed to successfully implement circularity principles, IF CEED is organised around two Incubation Clusters, namely ‘Materials and Innovative Designs’ and ‘Processes and Digitalisation’. Within the two clusters, nine working areas are in place including: critical raw materials, circular additive manufacturing, circular materials for textiles, sustainable eco-design, EU waste regulation, green public procurement, eco-management audit strategies, circular data and spare parts management. 

The primary activities foreseen within the project groups include for example on-mission additive manufacturing solutions and recycling of smart textiles based on innovative technologies.  

Director-General at the European Commission’s DG Environment, Florika Fink-Hooijer, said: “The European Defence Agency’s new forum for circular economy in European defence is a welcomed initiative to support concrete circular solutions in a key sector for the EU. The transition towards a circular economy envisaged by the Green Deal is a truly systemic change, which requires all sectors to transform and reap the benefits that transition brings. With the support of the LIFE Programme, the new forum will help open up new pathways to achieving circularity and green innovation in European defence and potential synergies with civilian crisis management.”  

Cooperation in Defence 

Dedicated expert groups across the defence domain (e.g. Ministries of Defence, defence-related industry, research-and-technology-organisations, academia, institutes), partly based on EDA’s working bodies specialised in their respective field, will work together to deliver on the above-mentioned goals of IF CEED. 22 Member States and dozens of private organisations are already engaged to achieve the overall objective to incubate cooperation projects. A dedicated IF CEED website has been launched as a “one-stop shop” for circular economy in European defence, by including national contributions. A first Annual General Conference, which will focus on the first concrete findings, is planned to take place in September 2022.  

Background  

Member States involved in IF CEED to date are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. 

• IF CEED Website 
• IF CEED Fact Sheet