Defence`s Feeds

When Intelligence Online recently asked Glencore to respond to questions concerning an intelligence operation it conducted against critics of its coal

The European Defence Agency (EDA) began implementing two strategic defence research projects, ECOBALLIFE and ARTURO, that were selected under the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2021 call for proposals.

The EDF incentivises cooperation and supports the competitiveness of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. It aims at providing financial support to defence research and capability development. In line with the EDF Regulations and following the signature of the Contribution Agreement by the European Commission, EDA is responsible for the indirect management of the projects.

ECOBALLIFE

The project ‘Research in Eco-designed Ballistic Systems for Durable Lightweight Protections Against Current and New Threats in Platform and Personal Applications’ was selected in the EDF area of materials and structures for enhanced protection in hostile environments. It analyses new materials and technologies improving protection for soldiers and vehicles against a wide range of threats and identifies European know-how in the field of military protection systems.

Coordinated by TECNALIA from Spain, ECOBALLIFE brings together 16 partners from six EU Member States. The €10 million project officially kicked-off on 13 September 2023 at the coordinator’s premises in San Sebastián, Spain, and will conclude in 42 months’ time.

Find more information about the ECOBALLIFE project and the consortium here.

ARTURO

The project ‘Advanced Radar Technology in eUROpe’ consolidates state-of-the-art technologies, emerging concepts, and trends in the field of radar technology, responding to future operational needs in the European armed forces.

The consortium is led by Leonardo S.p.A. from Italy and encompasses 25 participants from 11 Member States. The €20 million project kicked-off on 4 and 5 October 2023 in Rome, Italy, and will conclude in 36 months’ time.

Find more information about the ARTURO project and the consortium here.

Over 180 experts from 29 countries, along with more than 30 different institutions and organisations, participated in the sixth conference of the third phase of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS III) in Malaga. This was the highest level of participation since the start of the project. It underscored the Consultation Forum's status as the biggest European defence energy community. 

CF SEDSS is a European Commission-funded initiative managed by the EDA. 

EDA organised the sixth CF SEDSS III conference on 22-23 November 2023 under the auspices of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and hosted by the Ministry of Defence of Spain, with the support of Engineering Systems for the Defence of Spain. This plenary conference was combined with the second Energy Technology Solutions Conference, held on 24 November 2023, and an onsite exhibition, showcasing cutting-edge energy technology solutions applicable to defence.  

Conference participants discussed energy efficiency measures in military buildings, electrification of military transport, energy storage, resilience of defence-related critical energy infrastructure and the energy transition. Participants were updated on EU energy policies and strategies.

For the first time, the community welcomed the acting U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, who spoke on the US defence energy technology trends. 

Committed to sustainable energy in defence 

The conference was opened with speeches by EDA Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý, Lieutenant General Luis Cebrián Carbonell, Director of Infrastructures Directorate, Ministry of Defence, Spain, and Paula Pinho, Director, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission. Brigadier General E. Ruiz Alonso, Chief, Spanish Army General Logistics Base Program Support Office, Spanish Ministry of Defence, gave a keynote speech. 

In his speech, EDA's Šedivý highlighted that the Consultation Forum conference “is more than an examination of energy policy and exhibition of technological advancements. It is a testament to our collective and continued commitment towards sustainable energy within the defence sector." He looked ahead to 2040, where EDA “foresees a transformation in warfare — driven by digitisation and greener consciousness, with climate change at the forefront of security and operational landscapes.”

Lieutenant General Luis Cebrián Carbonell, Director of Infrastructures Directorate, Ministry of Defence, Spain said: “The defence sector is proactively defining its energy and environmental strategies, with a focus on achieving national and European goals for improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions."

Paula Pinho, Director, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission said: “Recent events have also put the Consultation Forum at the centre of the European scene. What started focusing on the secondary issue, developed into a wide and well-established EU action in the defence domain – a network of experts who learned to work together, presenting a blueprint for future European armed forces.”

EDA and the European Commission are working on initiating Phase IV of the Consultation Forum, starting in 2024 and continuing until 2028, Pinho said.

In his keynote address, Brigadier General E. Ruiz Alonso said: “The new Army Logistics Base to be established is meticulously conceived from its inception to seamlessly integrate state-of-the-art advancements in sustainable and efficient energy utilisation. This project is instrumental in cultivating a contemporary sustainable and human-centric environment … to bolster the operations of diverse units within the Spanish Army.” 

2024 event 

The CF SEDSS dissemination event will take place on 25 April 2024 under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and hosted by the Belgian Ministry of Defence. This will be the final event of CF SEDSS Phase III, where project results and outputs achieved in the last four years will be presented.  

More information:  

• CF SEDSS website 

• Defence and energy communities step up efforts on sustainable energy and publish new ground-breaking climate change study (europa.eu) 

• Climate change and EU defence: released new report analysing the links between climate, energy and defence (europa.eu) 

• Tabletop exercise and new study focus on protecting critical energy infrastructure (europa.eu) 

• EDA-led energy forum meets to reduce defence carbon footprint (europa.eu) 

• Fifth Consultation Forum meets in Prague to promote sustainable energy in defence (europa.eu) 

Elbridge Colby, co-founder of the Marathon Initiative think tank, has emerged as one of the country's best known China hands, winning a slew of favourable news coverage, testifying before Congress, and making regular speaking appearances, such as a talk before the Baltimore

The Israeli Air Force's 114th Drone Squadron, or Squadron Phoenix, which operates out of the Hatzor air base, is making

Rothschild Middle East, a subsidiary of banking group Rothschild & Co based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), is

China's ministry of state security (MSS, or Guanbu) has discreetly supported the 'blue-white' alliance between Taiwan's two main opposition parties

The small C and F Partners intelligence empire operated by Charles Carr from his home in Milan is thriving thanks,

Kroll was hired to investigate a military medical company that allegedly misrepresented its equipment as American-made to the Department of

Madrid/Paris/London - Apertus welcomes Spanish memberApertus, which is an alliance of former intelligence officers comprising British, French and German spymasters,

Secret US infrastructures housed on site 512 of Mount Har Qeren overlooking the Negev desert were recently strengthened to provide

The Al Kaabi clan (see our Insiders here), like others before them, will need to make way for Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (KbM), the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and eldest son of President Mohammed bin Zayed

In trying to contain Ukraine's counter-offensive, Russia has been rolling out new RB-636 Svet-KU-type signals intelligence (SIGINT) equipment en masse,

In its efforts to increase production at air defence group Almaz-Antey, a key part of armaments conglomerate Rostec, the Kremlin

The French ministry of armed forces' defence security intelligence directorate, the DRSD, decidedly has a taste for fighting interference. In

The "BRICS and the New World Order" conference, to be held on 30 November in Rome by the Fondazione di

First Quantum Minerals (IO, 30/08/23), the Canadian-based mining firm whose operations in Panama have triggered huge demonstrations that led indirectly to

Christopher Geidt, the former private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, registered his new consultancy, Hurista Advisory, in Edinburgh on 6 November.

A news item published on 9 November by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) made Western space surveillance services sit up and pay attention. The article and accompanying photos recount the test firing of a Chinese space launcher on 27

Since the start of Israel's war against Hamas, the country's technical intelligence services, namely the military's Unit 8200 and Unit