Defense`s Feeds

The Council today approved the draft administrative arrangement between the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the United States Department of Defence (US DoD) with a view to its signature.

The purpose of this arrangement is to provide a framework to exchange information and explore opportunities for cooperation between EDA and the US DoD. An initial scope of such cooperation includes:

• Forum of exchange and dialogue: the administrative arrangement will enable a substantial defence dialogue on all topics within EDA’s remit, and invitations for U.S. DoD to attend relevant meetings of EDA’s Steering Board and vice versa.
• Specific activities such as: consultations on the registration of chemical substances (e.g., EU REACH regulation), military mobility, supply chain issues and the impact of climate change on defence. The cooperation also includes participation in the open sessions of the European Defence Standardisation Committee.

The scope of cooperation may, upon mutual consent, progressively develop in the future. Currently, activities falling under the areas of capability development, as well as research and technology remain outside the scope of cooperation.

The arrangement confirms the significance of the transatlantic partnership in security and defence and reflects the importance of a stronger and more capable European defence that contributes to global and transatlantic security and is complementary to NATO.

Background and next steps

In the EU-U.S. 2021 Summit Statement, leaders committed to work towards an administrative arrangement for the United States with the European Defence Agency.

On 16 November 2021, the EDA Steering Board gave the mandate to the Head of the Agency to negotiate the arrangement, and on 9 December 2022, a draft proposal for an administrative arrangement was submitted to the Defence Ministers in the EDA Steering Board.

The arrangement will enter into effect on the date of the signature by the parties.

On 1 February, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has launched its largest Research and Technology project to develop highly autonomous combat unmanned ground systems. The project, Combat Unmanned Ground Systems (CUGS), brings together nine member states and 28 European industry partners.  With a € 35.5 million budget and running for 36 months, CUGS aims to define, design and develop a set of functional modules which will be mounted on to existing platforms. The final phase of the project will test full demonstrators for highly autonomous combat unmanned ground systems.

Autonomous systems provide operational benefits across a very broad range of missions, from intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and logistics missions to combat missions. Deploying unmanned systems reduces the danger to human personnel and manned platforms, while increasing robustness, sustainability and resilience of ground systems. It is expected that these systems will play an increased role in future Armed Forces by bringing faster manoeuvrability and more efficient and precise lethal and non-lethal effects, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of land systems and ensure an advantage in respect to the adversary.

CUGS - Adapting European Platforms

The functional modules to be developed in the project will ensure autonomous navigation; command, control, communications, and cooperation; and use of weapon systems.  The modules will be integrated on several European autonomous ground systems; the mid-sized platforms Themis (Milrem, Estonia) and Wiesel (Rheinmetall, Germany), and large-sized platforms Type X (Milrem, Estonia), Lince 2 VTLM (Iveco, Italy) and Patria AMV (Patria, Finland).

The project will run across three phases; firstly, with the requirements and standard-based system architecture of the full CUGS demonstrator being developed for both the current autonomous platforms and future modules.

The adaptation of the five existing platforms will begin in parallel with the development of the combat functional modules. In the third phase of the project the solutions will be mounted on the platforms and will be tested and evaluated individually and in a cooperative way in relevant environments.

In the testing phase, the adapted unmanned ground systems should be able to autonomously move, navigate, communicate, detect, identify and lock targets, choose weapon systems and test firing sequences and safety aspects.

Human on the loop

Each type of weapon or type of engagement will require some specificity to reach the requested level of capability with a human in/on the loop. This project will contribute to identifying the adequate level of autonomy for autonomous weapon system with humans on the loop and to test relevant features in TRL (Technology readiness levels) demonstrators.

The decision to take lethal actions on the targets will remain a human decision. The execution of this project will be made following in respect to the European Parliament “Resolution on autonomous weapon systems (2018/2752(RSP))”.

Pan-European consortium

Due to the growing importance of unmanned ground systems for operations, nine contributing Member States (cMS) decided to launch the Combat Unmanned Ground Systems (CUGS) project. CUGS is a very ambitious and challenging project, led by Italy, that will also bring together the cMS of Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Poland, as well as Norway.

The project will be carried out by a consortium led by Italy’s Leonardo and involves other 28 consortium members, namely Iveco, Larimart and MBDA IT, also of Italy, John Cockerill Defence, FN Herstal and the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, Diehl Defence, KMW, MBDA DE and Rheinmetall of Germany, Milrem Robotics, Estonia and the Estonian Military Academy of Estonia, Patria and Bittium of Finland, Nexter, Safran, Thales, MBDA FR and Arquus of France, TNO, Demcon and NCIM of the Netherlands, Kongsberg and FFI of Norway, and WAT, PIAP, ZMT and ASW of Poland.

As a project managed by EDA, the initiative is co-funded by Member States and additional participants can opt in. 

 

More information 

• Project Fact Sheet 

The European Defence Agency (EDA) supports its 26 Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the ‘hub’ for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks allowing it to the whole spectrum of defence capabilities. 

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. What we do (europa.eu)

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The European Defence Agency (EDA) issued on 1 February 2023 its call for applications to its first ever EDA Research, Technology, and Innovation Papers Awards. This contest will reward a total of three original and valuable defence-related papers covering technologies, processes and applications for enhanced future defence.  

The winning entries will come up with ideas which, if implemented between now and 2035, would contribute to enhance specific EU defence capabilities. Entries will be judged on their quality and impact, with a special emphasis on technology and innovation to help cover the European Union’s defence needs and shortfalls.

The contest aims to promote and support the work of early career researchers by introducing their work to the defence community, stimulate engagement of innovators to widen their access to emerging and potentially disruptive research, and identify areas in which additional investment is needed to address future defence capability needs.  
 
Each prize winner will receive €4,000. 

How to apply?

The deadline for submitting applications is April 2, 2023. 

The contest rules and application criteria can be found here and here, (plus the annexes to the call for applications here). The prize will be formally awarded during the 2023 EDA Defence Innovation Days later this year. The contest is open to all citizens of EDA participating Member States.  

HEDI 

The prize is part of EDA’s growing role in fostering innovation. Following the EU’s Strategic Compass for EU Defence and Security and the creation of the Hub for EU Defence Innovation (HEDI), EDA is tasked with promoting pathways to cutting-edge military capabilities. 

The EDA awards are part of that task. HEDI serves to stimulate and facilitate cooperation on defence innovation while ensuring operational benefits with related European Commission activities, notably the EU defence innovation scheme, coherence of output with NATO innovation and other EU defence innovation organisations.   

EDA's wider role  

EDA supports its 26 Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks allowing it to the whole spectrum of defence capabilities.  

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

The European Defence Agency (EDA) issued on 1 February 2023 its call for applications to its first ever EDA Research, Technology, and Innovation Papers Awards. This contest will reward a total of three original and valuable defence-related papers covering technologies, processes and applications for enhanced future defence.  

The winning entries will come up with ideas which, if implemented between now and 2035, would contribute to enhance specific EU defence capabilities. Entries will be judged on their quality and impact, with a special emphasis on technology and innovation to help cover the European Union’s defence needs and shortfalls.

The contest aims to promote and support the work of early career researchers by introducing their work to the defence community, stimulate engagement of innovators to widen their access to emerging and potentially disruptive research, and identify areas in which additional investment is needed to address future defence capability needs.  
 
Each prize winner will receive €4,000. 

How to apply?

The deadline for submitting applications is April 2, 2023. 

The contest rules and application criteria can be found here and here, (plus the annexes to the call for applications here). The prize will be formally awarded during the 2023 EDA Defence Innovation Days later this year. The contest is open to all citizens of EDA participating Member States.  

HEDI 

The prize is part of EDA’s growing role in fostering innovation. Following the EU’s Strategic Compass for EU Defence and Security and the creation of the Hub for EU Defence Innovation (HEDI), EDA is tasked with promoting pathways to cutting-edge military capabilities. 

The EDA awards are part of that task. HEDI serves to stimulate and facilitate cooperation on defence innovation while ensuring operational benefits with related European Commission activities, notably the EU defence innovation scheme, coherence of output with NATO innovation and other EU defence innovation organisations.   

EDA's wider role  

EDA supports its 26 Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks allowing it to the whole spectrum of defence capabilities.  

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here. 

Brussels, 1 February 2023 - General André Erich Denk takes up his duties at EDA on 1 February 2023. As deputy to Chief Executive Jiří Šedivý, General Denk will support EDA in its mission to improve European defence capabilities, stimulate research and technology, act as a military interface for EU policies and help develop European security and defence policy.

General Denk was most recently Director Logistics of the EU Military Staff and was previously commander of the Join School of Logistics in Germany, as well as the Joint Logistics Support Group Coordination and Training Centre, Germany’s core facility for training, exercises and certification of national and international joint logistics. During his long career, he also worked as desk officer and deputy branch head for planning issues at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Defence.  

General Denk has undertaken many international deployments under European Union, United Nations and NATO mandates, most recently as chief of staff of the EU Training Mission in Mali. His extensive international expertise means he brings logistics and operational knowledge with him, as well as capability planning and armaments development expertise. 

General Denk said: “I am delighted to join EDA at this decisive point in European defence collaboration. I am committed to supporting Member States develop their defence capabilities together, as well as building up the European Union’s defence capacity and strengthening the European pillar in NATO.”

Born in Rotthalmünster, Germany, in 1967, General Denk joined the German armed forces in 1986. He holds a diploma in mechanical engineering and in addition, graduated from the German Command and General Staff College as well as from the French General Staff College. In addition to German, he is a native speaker of Serbo-Croatian and speaks fluent English and French. He is married and has two children.  

NOTES FOR EDITORS  

1. EDA website: European Defence Agency (europa.eu)
2. German armed forces website: Homepage - Bundeswehr

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Today, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has launched a new project to establish a safe-communication extension for NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture (NGVA) in terms of functional safety. The project which will run over 24 months with a €3,5 million budget, is the first step in a series of Safe NGVA projects that eventually aim to develop and test physical demonstrators in relevant environments in the second and third phases.

Generic architectures are open systems to other entities and give access to data that are usually hidden in proprietary systems. As these systems are becoming more common and widely used in military vehicles, safety is one part of the NGVA that is not defined to an implementable depth.

The Safe NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture (SafeNGVA) project proposes to solve the issue by providing separate safe, but closed, sub-systems or infrastructure that is accessible by other participants in the architecture by one-way-gateways.

Led by Germany, the first phase of SafeNGVA also includes France. It will be carried out by a consortium led by Germany’s Rheinmetall and involves MBDA DE, also of Germany, and Safran, Thales and Nexter of France.  

PROJECT PHASES TOWARDS PHYSICAL DEMONSTRATORS

SafeNGVA in its first phase will seek to define the requirements and design a system architecture for safe communication using the NGVA. The architecture will be validated by different techniques such as performance to robustness tests, to ensure the architecture is conceptually capable of covering all necessary needs for function safety in military vehicles, and a demonstrator and simulation environment for some elements of the NGVA, to provide an implementation close to a real use case. As one of the main goals of the NGVA is to improve interoperability, a demonstration for interoperability between the member states will be performed.

In the second and third phases, the results of SafeNGVA will be used to improve the architecture and validate it further by developing demonstrators for steering a tactical vehicle and by creating a weapon system demonstrator using safety critical hardware and software solutions.

As a project managed by EDA, the initiative can be co-funded by Member States and additional participants can opt in. 

The European Defence Agency 

The European Defence Agency (EDA) supports its 26 Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the ‘hub’ for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks allowing it to the whole spectrum of defence capabilities. Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. What we do (europa.eu)

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The European Defence Agency (EDA) will support two Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects focused on shaping future European airlift capabilities, for both mid-sized and out-sized cargo, following a request from their project coordinators. EDA is tasked to assist with harmonisation of the requirements for two platforms; the Future Medium-Size Tactical Cargo (FMTC) and the Strategic Air Transport For Outsized Cargo (SATOC). Both projects were launched in the fourth wave of PESCO projects and are coordinated by France and Germany, respectively; with the FMTC also gathering Germany, Spain and Sweden as project members and Czechia, France and Netherlands in the four-nation SATOC project.

Medium & Outsized Cargo: Requirements for 2035+

Tactical cargo aircraft are the workhorses of the air forces in terms of logistics, medical evacuations, and special missions. Currently, EU Member States operate a wide range of tactical cargo aircraft (e.g. C130, C-295, C-27J). Apart from the A400M, a modern strategic-tactical cross-over platform,  many of them will be approaching the end of their life cycle in the upcoming decade. The main objective of the FMTC project is to develop next generation tactical air mobility capability of the armed forces of EU Member States. It aims at providing the participating Member States and industry with robust elements to decide what the 2035+ future of EU military tactical medium size transport fleets will be by defining common requirements for a new Future Mid-size Tactical Cargo.

SATOC aims to fill the critical shortfall for strategic transport for outsized and heavy cargo, a crucial enabler for military missions and operations. SATOC involves a 3-step approach, firstly by identifying a sufficient number of project members, harmonising requirements and finally identifying and agreeing on a common European solution for the transport of outsized cargo. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has also underscored the importance of outsized and heavy cargo transport. The destruction of several Antonov aircrafts, including AN-225 Mriya (the world’s largest cargo aircraft) has further reduced European Armed Forces access to strategic airlift.

EDA’s support to FMTC and SATOC, which will run for an initial 24 months, will be dedicated to harmonising the requirements of the project members and drafting a joint document of precise common guidance for research and development for the envisioned platform.

Common requirements for a common vision

Defining common requirements is an essential step in order to allow project members to align towards a joint vision for the future medium-sized and outsized cargo aircraft. In other words, common requirement articulation can be seen as the basis that all subsequent decisions in the ensuing programme will reference. They prescribe the fundamental performance criteria and innovation level of the platform that is destined to be a crucial element in future military campaigns of Member States. Furthermore, it will serve as basis for the work of European defence industry, starting with a feasibility study and proceeding with the design and prototyping of the new generation aircraft.

Harmonised requirements lower the life-cycle cost by avoiding late design changes and excessive versioning, and  prevent a fragmentation of future air mobility fleets at large by allowing for a platform development that serves an array of Member States. EDA will provide its expertise and input for the elaboration of the requirements, building on its experience in harmonisation of project partners.

EDA engages in the document drafting process by highlighting areas that connect to ongoing efforts in related fields, such as defence aviation R&T, providing its experience in interoperability matters of tactical airlift, and supports the discussion with best practices in achieving a programme that maximises Member States participation.

EDA supporting 10 PESCO projects

FMTC and SATOC are the ninth and tenth PESCO project to be supported by the Agency. PESCO, which recently marked five years since its launch, has also be able to benefit from the expertise of the EDA. EDA’s support has grown from initial modest administrative support to a couple of PESCO’s smaller-scale projects, but has since grown to include major weapons platforms, such as the FMTC and European Patrol Corvette.

EDA offers three forms of support to PESCO projects, first is administrative support by helping a PESCO project to organise meetings and providing facilities for project-related work. The second form of PESCO support is consultancy and expertise as in the case of the FMTC. Here the Agency and the PESCO project agree on the specific tasks EDA will carry out for a project. This could entail support in capturing the detailed operational and technical requirements, as well as developing its ConOps (concept of operations) by a certain deadline or defining specifications for its technical study.

The final form of EDA support is when participating members of a PESCO project choose to establish their project at the Agency, which means other Member States can choose to opt into, or join, the endeavour at a later stage, with EDA serving as project manager. To date, three PESCO projects are being taken forward within the Agency; CBRN Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS); Deployable Modular Underwater Intervention Capability Package (DIVEPACK); and European Patrol Corvette.

 

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