Agrégateur de flux

La Marine nationale accueillera en 2017, le premier SNA de type Suffren.

Le Suffren, tout premier né du programme Barracuda, effectuera sa première sortie à la mer au printemps 2016 pour une livraison à la marine en 2017. Le Suffren est le premier d’une série de six sous-marins nucléaire d’attaque, qui remplaceront les actuels Rubis.

Les Sous-marins Nucléaire d’Attaque (SNA) de la nouvelle classe Barracuda, sont plus grands, plus puissants et plus silencieux que leurs aînés. D’une longueur de 99,5 mètres ils affichent un déplacement de 5 000 tonnes en plongée. Ces bâtiments à propulsion nucléaire sont conçus pour fonctionner avec un équipage mixte réduit de soixante marins, même si la décision de féminiser la sous-marinade n’est pas prise. Le sous-marin est capable d’embarquer jusqu’à soixante-quinze passagers, dont une quinzaine de commandos. Ceux-ci pourront utiliser les engins (propulseurs, bateaux rapides…) placés dans la « valise sèche », la DDS (Dry deck shelter) que le sous-marin pourra transporter sur sa coque. Le Barracuda apportera un grand nombre d’innovations, notamment dans le domaine acoustique. La propulsion sera assurée par un réacteur nucléaire K15, le même que celui des Triomphant ou du Charles de Gaulle. L’allure générale du sous-marin est modifiée par la présence de barres en forme de croix de saint-André, où les barres de plongée arrière sont en même temps les barres de direction. L’autre révolution majeure est la fin du périscope optique, il sera remplacé par un « mât optronique », fabriqué par Sagem, équipé de quatre caméras qui transmettent leurs images par fibre optique au travers la coque épaisse. Cette technique est déjà utilisée par les Britanniques sur les Astute. L’armement sera constitué de torpilles lourdes F-21 d’une portée supérieur à 50 km, de missiles anti-navire SM-39 Block2 Mod2, ainsi que de missiles de croisière MdCN (Scalp Naval). Ce dernier permettra en toute discrétion d’atteindre précisément une cible terrestre localisée à plusieurs centaines de kilomètres. En tout, vingt armes pourront être mises en œuvre au moyen de quatre tubes de 533 mm. La capacité accrue de stockage augmente l’autonomie de cette nouvelle génération de SNA, l’une des conditions sine qua non pour la réussite des missions. L’équipage pourra vivre en complète autarcie pendant de longues périodes opérationnelles (70 à 90 jours contre 45 à 60 jours à bord des SNA type Rubis).
Pour défendre au mieux ses intérêts nationaux, l’objectif pour le SNA est de rester opérationnel de façon continue, dans les zones de déploiement lointaines et ce, quelles que soient les conditions. Caché de ses adversaires, le SNA de type Suffren sera beaucoup plus discret que son aîné. En opération, il pourra se déployer et chasser à des vitesses élevées tout en restant silencieux. Dans le même temps, ses capacités d’écoutes et de classification seront optimisées grâce à de nouvelles antennes de détections acoustiques, adaptées à un système de combat optimisé.
L’arrivée de cette nouvelle génération de SNA exige une adaptation des infrastructures des ports d’accueil pour en assurer le soutien et le maintien en condition opérationnelle. Les premiers travaux d’infrastructures sont déjà visibles dans le port de Brest et de Toulon. L’école de navigation sous-marine (ENSM/BPN de Toulon) s’est également agrandie pour accueillir dès l’été 2015 six simulateurs de formation et d’entraînement des équipages. Quant aux bassins, ils sont suffisamment grands pour accueillir les SNA de type Suffren. Néanmoins, les sous-mariniers s’accordent pour dire que la manœuvre, déjà difficile, le deviendra encore plus.
Le Suffren est le premier sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque de la nouvelle classe Barracuda, qui remplacera les actuels Rubis. Les suivants porteront les noms de Duguay-Trouin (2020), Tourville (2022), De Grasse (2025), Rubis (2027) et Casabianca (2029).

A lengyel társadalom félelme a terrorizmustól jóval nagyobb, mint évekkel ezelőtt.

Le BPC Sébastopol à St Nazaire Le second BPC commandé par la Russie a pris la mer mardi 14 avril afin de réaliser une seconde série d'essais en mer qu'il a accompli avec succès. Le Sébastopol avait réalisé une première série d'essais en mer en mars dernier....

Defence IQ recently spoke with Dave Palmer, director of technology at Darktrace, a rapidly growing cyber threat defence company based in the UK that recently raised $18 million from Invoke Capital, Talis Capital, and Hoxton Ventures, about the security challenges facing industrial con

La Vigie, lettre d'analyse stratégique publiée par Jean Dufourcq et Olivier Kempf et paraissant tous les deux mercredis, vous propose son quatorzième numéro. Vous trouverez dans ce numéro daté du 15 Avril 2015 un texte intitulé Du déclin britannique, un autre sur l'Utilité stratégique de la Chine, une Lorgnette sur D'ici le 30 juin (au Donbass)

Du déclin britannique

Les élections approchent au Royaume Uni puisque le dénouement aura lieu le 7 mai. Il indiquera où en sont Tories, LibDems, UKIP, Labour et autres indépendantistes écossais. Il n’est pas besoin de rappeler que le mode de scrutin (uninominal à un tour) rend aléatoire toutes les prévisions issues de sondages. On ne sait donc quelle sera la nature de la coalition qui sortira des urnes. On sait en revanche que quel que soit son équilibre, elle prolongera le déclin stratégique de la « perfide » voisine. (…)

Utilité stratégique de la Chine

Il y a ceux qui sont concernés par la Syrie, la Tunisie, Daech et le terrorisme, ceux que l’Ukraine, Poutine et la guerre obsèdent, le Nigéria inquiète et, aussi prosaïquement, ceux qu’indisposent le budget de la Défense, ses effectifs et ses impasses. C’est donc le moment d’évoquer un sujet tout aussi crucial mais moins contingent : la Chine et le rôle qu’elle tient dans nos calculs et représentations stratégiques. Car la Chine est en fond de tableau de tous nos travaux, tant la nature de sa puissance et la réalité de ses ambitions déterminent la hiérarchie du monde. (…)

Un entretien avec le délégué général de l'UMP en charge de la politique étrangère

La torpille Fizik-1 La torpille "Fizik-1" a terminé ses essais officiels au mois de décembre dernier et équipera bientôt les nouveaux submersibles russes à propulsion nucléaire. Il s'agit là d'une information qui peut sembler de prime abord étrange dans...

La Guinée n’en a peut-être pas fini avec son histoire de violence électorale. La tension monte autour de la date des élections présidentielle (octobre 2015) et communales (premier trimestre 2016). L’opposition se dit préoccupée par les risques de fraude. Comme les incidents survenus lors de sa tentative de manifestation à Conakry, le 13 avril (un mort et de nombreux blessés), l’ont montré, l’opposition est capable de mobiliser. Elle en est capable malgré ou peut-être à cause des lourdes pertes subies lors de la dernière phase de controverse électorale, en 2012-2013, au cours de laquelle plus de 50 personnes, essentiellement des partisans de l’opposition, avaient trouvé la mort. Le pays doit échapper à la spirale entre répression et mobilisation.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is implementing its strategy of atrocities with gruesome skill. After Iraq and Syria, the group is using Libya to force outside states to react on the basis of emotions, not strategic thinking. The beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians persuaded Egypt to bomb militant camps on Libya’s coast and to launch a diplomatic offensive at the U.N. Security Council to authorize military operations on Libyan soil.

The Israel Project sent out an email today on the messaging battle that is going on between the White House and the Senate over the Obama administration dropping its threat to veto the Corker-Menendez bill, legislation that would boost Congressional oversight over any Iran deal.
Spokesman Josh Earnest made the announcement at yesterday's press briefing, just as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was convening for what would be a 19-0 vote in favor of the bill. The declaration reversed months of explicit administration threats to veto legislation that would give Congress an expanded voice in Iran negotiations.

The White House spin was that Corker-Menendez had been substantively hollowed out by a morning compromise between Sens. Corker and Cardin, so that had become acceptable. The bills' supporters countered that the core oversight requirements remained intact, and that the administration caved because it knew a veto would be overridden. Corker on Twitter: "The simple fact is that the White House dropped its veto threat because they weren’t going to have the votes to sustain a veto" [1].

The subsequent news cycle did not reflect the White House's messaging:

• Reuters: In setback, Obama concedes Congress role on Iran deal: "U.S. President Barack Obama conceded on Tuesday that Congress will have the power to review a nuclear deal with Iran, reluctantly giving in to pressure from Republicans and some in his own party after they crafted a rare compromise demanding a say." [2]
  
  
• Daily Beast: Obama Blinks on Iran Nuke Vote: The White House just did a 180 on a controversial bill to let Congress vote on the Iran nuclear deal. It’s a big win for the deal’s critics: "In the standoff with Congress over the Iranian nuclear deal, President Obama just blinked. Faced with the prospect of a backlash from members of Obama’s own party on his signature foreign policy initiative, the White House on Monday said it’d be willing to sign a bill that will prevent the administration from lifting sanctions on Iran while Congress reviews whatever final deal is reached with Tehran over its nuclear program." [3]
  
  
• New York Times: Obama Yields, Allowing Congress Say on Iran Nuclear Deal: "The White House relented on Tuesday and said President Obama would sign a compromise bill giving Congress a voice on the proposed nuclear accord... White House officials insisted they extracted crucial last-minute concessions. Republicans - and many Democrats - said the president simply got overrun." [4]
  
  
• Times of Israel: Veto override fear spurred Obama to back oversight bill, groups claim: From Christian Zionists to American Iranians, nobody’s buying that compromise made Iran legislation palatable to White House: "The White House said Tuesday its decision to back a bill increasing Congressional oversight on any nuclear deal with Iran was due to concessions, but many in Washington think the about face is more about adding up veto-busting votes than the subtraction of controversial measures." [5]

Even the New York Times editorial board, which was very unkind to the Senators, read the politics in a way that cut against the White House's messaging: The committee’s action gives momentum to those who have bitterly criticized Mr. Obama for negotiating with Iran... Mr. Obama initially threatened to veto the legislation, but he backed off rather than face a bipartisan override of his veto. [6] The next step on the Senate side is for the bill to be brought to the floor, where there will be an amendment process and then a vote. On the House side, lawmakers will have to craft parallel legislation, but The Hill reported last nigtht that Democrats are already jumping on board so the process is likely to be quick [7].
At issue is how easily the will of Congress can be blocked, based on how the Menendez-Corker bill has been formulated:
As the editors of The Wall Street Journal analyzed it, “The majority could offer a resolution of disapproval, but that could be filibustered by Democrats and vetoed by the President. As few as 41 Senate Democrats could thus vote to prevent it from ever getting to President Obama’s desk—and 34 could sustain a veto. Mr. Obama could then declare that Congress had its say and ‘approved’ the Iran deal even if a majority in the House and Senate voted to oppose it.”If so, Obama lost nothing by his "concession" to Congress. And he knows it.
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Technorati Tag: Iran and Obama and Congress and Menendez-Corker.

Dans 10 jours aura lieu l'élection présidentielle au Togo, petit pays emblématique de la Françafrique. Afin d'alerter l'opinion publique et d'exiger des autorités françaises une condamnation sans équivoque du régime togolais, arrivé et maintenu au pouvoir par la force et la fraude, l'association Survie publie un dossier hors-série de son journal Billets d'Afrique consacré aux relations France-Togo. Scrutin à un tour, non limitation des mandats, appareil sécuritaire bien en place, impunité, tous les (...) - Togo / Togo, Françafrique, Une

So we now have most of the major manifestos for the General Election. None of them – possibly bar the LibDems -  give me much cause to change my mind about the continuing failure of British politicians to talk about the detail of European integration.

UKIP’s effort - released today - is a case in point. On one hand, it’s very clear that it thinks the UK should leave the EU, but on the other – as noted by FleetStreetFox - they want to retain a whole pile of policy areas that they think are beneficial. Such a position is very much that of Boris Johnson on cake.

But the more interesting point that I’ve taken from the manifesto is the continuing evolution of UKIP as a party.

I’ve been interested in the party almost as long as it’s been in existence: I seem to recall writing about them for my Masters dissertation back in the mid-1990s. As such, I’ve witnessed quite closely how things have changed. And change they have.

My interest comes from their euroscepticism: in the early days that meant I was interesting in everything that the party did, since it did nothing but oppose the EU. It’s one original policy was to contest European elections, then not take those seats, but instead to provoke a constitutional crisis that would in turn cause the UK to leave. Not a sensible plan, but a simple one.

This only lasted until the departure/ejection of the party’s founder, Alan Sked – a man you’ll be hearing from over the next few weeks as he tells you why you shouldn’t vote UKIP – whereupon the policy switched to taking up EP seats, and using them to secure funds, gain inside information and use it to forment further euroscepticism (I paraphrase slightly).

It was only in the early 2000s that the party really began to develop other policies. Immigration – which has become the central policy plank – started as an issue in the wake of the 2004 EU enlargement.

But even five years ago, the party wasn’t really about policies, but about disgruntlement: recall the Nigel Farage disowned the 2010 manifesto last year as ‘drivel’. It was indeed a poorly conceived and articulated document, with stuff thrown in willy-nilly (I paraphrase even more slightly than before) and no-one really cared about it.

Today we have a real contrast. A much more profession document - pace some photoshopping - with independent costings and a lot more focus on constructive policies. Strikingly, UKIP policy on the EU is withdrawal after a referendum, i.e. even the election of a UKIP government wouldn’t necessarily secure exit from the EU. This reads very much as a gambit for a party that it looking to join a coalition (hence also the softening of Farage’s line on Cameron as Tory party leader).

In short, UKIP now looks much more like a normal political party.

And that’s a problem, for two reasons.

Firstly, a key part of the party’s appeal has been its heterodox approach: ‘common sense politics’, ‘not like the others’, etc. Farage is the consummate non-politician, despite being a classic politician in so many ways. Becoming more normal thus comes with a clear potential of costing the party some of its vote, especially those who are disaffected with politics.

Secondly, it further exposes the lack of ideological consistency within the party. Common sense is all well and good, but what basis does the party decide its policies? Again, the tension between the libertarians (essentially Carswell and Reckless, with Farage and a few others leaning that way) and the non-libertarians (coming from across the political spectrum) remains. Regardless of whether Farage is able to retain the leadership, this will be a critical debate post-election for the party. That Reckless has been almost invisible in the party campaign to date suggests that the personality politics also remain a problem/challenge.

Some commentators have talked about the election as a staging post for UKIP: using a strong showing to build for 2020. However, for that to work, the party will have to continue to evolve, in rather significant ways. A year ago, I doubted if that was possible. UKIP has struggled with leadership challenges before, but never under quite the spotlight that it has been so successful in courting.

The post Fings ain’t what they used to be: Changing UKIP appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Vor zehn Jahren wurde Zuwanderung und Integration in Deutschland erstmals in einem Gesetz geregelt. Nach langwierigen politischen Verhandlungen trat am 1. Januar 2005 das „Gesetz zur Steuerung und Begrenzung der Zuwanderung und zur Regelung des Aufenthalts und der Integration von Unionsbürgern und Ausländern“ (Zuwanderungsgesetz) in Kraft. Ab 2007 folgten weitere Ergänzungen. So wurden relevante EU-Richtlinien, wie die Dublin-II-Verordnung, die Qualifikationsrichtlinie, die Forscherrichtlinie und die Richtlinie zur Blue Card umgesetzt.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq met with Miloš Bizjak, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, to exchange views ahead of the June 2015 European Council and to discuss Slovenia’s participation in EDA projects. 

Slovenia sees a central role of EDA in coordinating, supporting and promoting cooperative defence projects, and expects added value in better implementing proposals to enhance capability development. Priority should be on development of capabilities, including niche capabilities, in accordance with the operational requirements at the national, EU and NATO levels.

“Slovenia appreciates the efforts of the EDA and welcomes the discussions ahead of the next 2015 European Council on defence. It is of vital importance that smaller industries and entities have better access to the European defence market. Inclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market will help reduce fragmentation, increase competitiveness and provide opportunities for joint access and performance on the market”, said State Secretary Miloš Bizjak.

“The current security environment requires Europe to send strong signals confirming its commitment to defence. What European defence needs today is political will and a strong, innovative and competitive defence industry to secure our strategic autonomy. The further development of the defence industry requires among others common capability programmes and investment in research and technology. 
In this respect, the European Defence Agency remains a strong instrument at the disposal of Member States. One way we can support Slovenia, its defence industry and especially small and medium sized enterprises is for example in facilitating access to markets in Europe through EU funding and market information The discussions by Heads of States and Government in June should give an important boost and top-level guidance”, said Jorge Domecq during his visit in Ljubljana.

The visit included meetings with other high-level officials of the Slovenian Ministry of Defence as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. It is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic.

Copyright picture: Ministry of Defence, Slovenia

More information:

• News "EDA Chief Executive visits Czech Republic" (13 April 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq in Bulgaria to discuss defence cooperation" (8 April 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive travels to Romania" (8 April 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive meets French Minister of Defence" (30 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq exchanges views with Irish Minister of Defence Simon Coveney T.D." (25 March 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive visits The Netherlands" (23 March 2015)
• News "Discussions on European defence in Portugal" (19 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq meets German Secretary of State" (19 March 2015)
• News "Belgium and EDA discuss future defence cooperation" (18 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq in the UK for cooperation talks" (25 Feb 2015)
• News "Latvia and EDA discuss cooperation opportunities" (19 Feb 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive visits Lithuania" (17 Feb 2015)