EDA News

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) Cyber Ranges Federation project, in which 11 Member States federate their national cyber ranges and thereby improve their respective cyber defence training capabilities, reached an important milestone with the successful multinational demonstration exercise held in Helsinki. The event, co-organised by the Finnish MoD and EDA, was attended and supported by experts from several contributing countries (Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia) as well as the European Space Agency (ESA). 

Two and a half years after the launch of the Cyber Ranges Federation project (the first ever cyber defence pooling & sharing project initiated by the Agency), the objective of the live demonstration was to showcase the practical implications and benefits of connecting and jointly using Member States’ cyber ranges in order to improve and expand each one’s cyber training capabilities. The event allowed participants to witness first-hand what the project aims to achieve and how it has already enhanced the cyber expertise and skills of each of the contributing Member States. 

Practically speaking, the event consisted of a live fire exercise, based on a fictive but realistic training scenario, in which one team had to respond to and defend itself against cyber attacks from another. The exercise used SD-WAN technology as the backbone network technology. The participating national cyber ranges as well as the European Space Agency’s were all interconnected and interacting in real time, with and each of them having its own particular role to play in the exercise.

The demonstration event was part of the ‘European Union’s combined Cyber and Hybrid Week’ which is currently being held in Helsinki under the auspices of the Finnish EU Presidency. The aim of the week is to create synergies by combining three independent events: EDA’s Project Team Cyber Meeting (5-6 November), EDA’s Cyber Ranges Demo Event (6 November) and the Cyber Power in Hybrid Warfare-symposium organised by the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (7-8 November).

“Finland, as an active player in Cyber domain, has been honoured to be in the lead of this project since Sept 2018. Finalizing challenging project is always a result of good and fruitful cooperation – in this case between 11 contributing member states. It´s very significant to continue developing just established Cyber Ranges Federation platform in the future”, said Jukka Juusti, Permanent Secretary of Finnish Ministry of Defence.

“There isn’t probably a domain from which more new security threats are emerging than from cyber. Therefore, stepping up our common cyber defence is a matter of priority and urgency, as it is also reflected in the revised European Capability Development Priorities approved last year. By pooling and sharing their national cyber ranges, participating Member States will be able to improve their joint training conditions and, as a result, strengthen their cyber resilience. This successful exercise has shown that we are on the right path”, said Jorge Domecq, EDA’s Chief Executive. 

“It is now well ascertained that space systems play a crucial role in the security, wellbeing and economic success of Europe. Protecting space assets from cyber threats is therefore a key priority and technological challenge. ESA has a duty to protect its Member States’ investments in space. Today we witnessed a successful demonstration of the ESA-EDA partnership. A partnership that will continue to be instrumental in increasing Europe’s cyber resilience, namely through strengthening cyber response skills and capabilities in ESA. Todays` significant exercise illustrates our existing cyber resilience capabilities located in the European Space Security and Education Centre in Belgium. Cyber threats are constantly evolving. We must therefore maintain and strengthen our capabilities and have made the necessary funding proposals to the Council at Ministerial level to be held in late November. The vitality of our cooperation with EDA and its Member States will continue to play an important role in the future. This is therefore but a beginning, as we are currently considering the creation of a Joint ESA-EDA Cyber Resilience Task Force to further explore cooperation avenues, including with other European partners,” added Jan Woerner, ESA’s Director General.
 

The aim of EDA’s Cyber Ranges Federation project is to develop a more sophisticated and powerful platform for cyber training purposes connecting Member States´ national Cyber Ranges to one another and enabling other countries, which don’t have their cyber ranges, to train and improve their cyber defence skills nevertheless. A European federation of cyber ranges, i.e. the availability of mutually accessible cyber defence training and exercise ranges, may in the future leverage other benefits, such as cyber research ranges and cyber simulation & test ranges.
 

• Finnish MoD spokesperson: harri.reini@defmin.fi
• EDA spokesperson: elisabeth.schoeffmann@eda.europa.eu
• ESA spokesperson: florent.mazurelle@esa.int
  
  
  

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk today visited EDA for talks with Chief Executive Jorge Domecq on current and future opportunities for cooperation. 

It was the first encounter between Mr Domecq and Minister Zagorodnyuk who was appointed in August this year. Discussions mainly focused on the state of play of Ukraine’s participation in EDA projects and activities under the Administrative Arrangement (AA) signed in December 2015, which identifies four main areas for initial cooperation: Single European Sky, Standardization, Training, Logistics.

Minister Zagorodnyuk and Mr Domecq took stock of the good progress made so far in the implementation of the AA and exchanged views on ways to further enhance and facilitate Ukraine’s involvement in EDA projects and activities within the four areas. 

“We look forward to pursuing our cooperation with Minister Zagorodnyuk and his team building on what has already been achieved since the Administrative Agreement was signed in 2015”, Mr Domecq commented. 

Minister Zagorodnyuk expressed his gratitude for the support of Ukraine and informed the Chief Executive about the restart of the political establishment in Ukraine and that the President, the Parliament and the Government have already taken practical steps to radically accelerate reforms in Ukraine. The Minister emphasised that the MOD of Ukraine is focusing on achieving practical results on the reforms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and gave notice on the main tasks of the Ministry of Defence in the short term. 

The Minister stressed his interest in increasing practical cooperation between the MOD of Ukraine and EDA, in accordance with the Administrative Arrangement signed in 2015. He further informed about Ukraine's aspiration to take part in PESCO projects with EU Member states when a decision about participation of third States is made.

Minister Zagorodnyuk in his visit to EDA was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Defence Ms. Alina Frolova and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Yehor Bozhok.
 

• EDA-Ukraine Administrative Arrangement
• EDA Chief Executive visits Ukraine (webnews Nov 2018)
  
  

This week (22/23 October), EDA hosted the third PESCO workshop related to the European Secure Software Defined Radio (ESSOR) project which aims to develop common technologies for European military radios. 

The adoption of these technologies as a standard will guarantee the interoperability of EU forces in the framework of joint operations, regardless which radio platforms are used. The ESSOR project will provide a secure military communications system, improving voice and data communication between Member States’ Armed Forces on a variety of platforms. In addition, it will deliver guidelines related to the validation and verification of waveform portability and platform re-configurability, setting up a common security basis to increase interoperability between the forces. By ensuring that military radios are fully accessible, shared and used by all Member States, the effectiveness of joint operations can be increased substantially. 

To that end, the Member States participating in the ESSOR project - Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal (with Estonia and Ireland as observers) - have moved forward to implement a common architecture analysis of software radios in Europe. 

The ESSOR project activities are currently performed by the consortium A4ESSOR through a contract managed by OCCAr.  A4ESSOR is a joint-venture of the following companies: Thales (FR), Leonardo (IT), Indra (SP), Radmor (PL), Bittium (FI) and soon Rohde & Schwarz (DE). 

The ESSOR PESCO project presents exceptional technological characteristics: it is based on the state-of-the-art technology in the radio field, and it aims at developing the most advanced concepts and solutions for communications applicable to several waveform layers. It builds a complete set of capabilities which will satisfy the most demanding, modern and future communication requirements. 
 

Earlier this month (11 October), the 2nd ESSOR workshop on the development of a “concept of operations” (CONOPS) had already taken place at the Agency. It allowed the project Members States to gain insight into the process and methodology which are compliant with NATO Architecture Framework version 4. The CONOPS aims at describing the operational needs, visions and expectations of the operational users (from tactical level to component command) on the new waveforms to be developed in the context of the PESCO ESSOR project. It analyses operational scenarios using vignettes and identifies categories of architectural information which are further developed into operational requirements and technical requirements. A questionnaire is being distributed to operational staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force to gather inputs on the role of software defined radio to ensure interoperability among military communication and information systems in a future pervasive interconnected battlefield. 
 

PESCO, the Permanent Structured Cooperation set up in December 2017, allows the 25 participating Member States to jointly plan, develop and invest in shared capability projects, and enhance the operational readiness and contribution of their armed forces. The aim is to jointly develop a coherent full spectrum force package and make the capabilities available to Member States for national and multinational (EU CSDP, NATO, UN, etc.) missions and operations. 

For more information on PESCO visit the website https://pesco.europa.eu/. 

A joint EDA-NATO Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) Conference, the first of its kind in this format, was opened this morning by the Dutch Minister of Defence, Ank Bijleveld (who spoke via video message), NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, and EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. It followed a successful first European AAR conference organised by EDA last year.

The event, moderated by the Chairman of the Aerial Refuelling Systems Advisory Group (ARSAG), General John Sams, brought together key decision-makers from the EU and NATO as well as the wider transatlantic and international AAR community, including industry, to discuss current and future challenges and coordinate efforts in this important domain. Among the high-level speakers of the conference were notably Major General Laurent Marboef, the commander of the European Air Transport Command (EATC), Major General Jose Maria Juanas from the Spanish Air Force, Colonel Juergen Wallwei from the German Military Aviation Authority and Dave Benson from the US Air Force Aerial Refueling Certification Agency (ARCA).

A special focus was put on ways and means to enhance euro-atlantic AAR interoperability. Throughout the day,  the topic was presented, discussed and analysed in various sessions dealing with different aspects, from the optimisation of existing capabilities and the development of new capabilities to the operational and industrial implications of it.

In his opening speech, Jorge Domecq praised the good cooperation between EDA, NATO and ARSAG in such crucial a domain than air-to-air refuelling. “This is yet another testimony of pragmatic cooperation, to ensure complementarity of efforts and avoid unnecessary duplications, as called for by the EU-NATO Joint Declaration”, Mr Domecq said.  

Over recent years, important progress has been made in order to mitigate the important capability gap Europe still has in the field of AAR (establishment of a Multinational MRTT Fleet, AAR exercises organised by the European Air Transport Command, gradual entrance into service of the A440M, successful clearance campaigns between A400M tankers and various receivers, etc.), “but it is not sufficient”, the EDA Chief Executive stressed: “What we really need is to ensure that the AAR shortfall, like capability gaps in other areas, is addressed in a more systematic way”. Therefore, the fact that AAR was reconfirmed as one of the EU Capability Development Priorities (it is embedded in the wider Air Superiority priority) which were approved by EU Member States in 2018, in full complementarity with NATO’s NDPP, will enable the continuation of this effort.  Work is now underway to implement the priorities, including the AAR related one, through Strategic Context Cases (SCCs). 
 

“In the short-term, the main challenge is to optimise the use of the existing AAR assets available in Europe, and we can do that through, for example, increased participation in annual European AAR Training (EART). But we can also increase interoperability by increasing AAR clearances - because a tanker without a clearance is not a tanker”, said Mr Domecq who also stressed that the certification of AAR is clearly an airworthiness aspect. In this respect, he welcomed that airworthiness authorities in the AAR field now realise and agree on the fact that “the technical assessment of an AAR clearance is their responsibility”. In the medium-term, the challenge is to cover the peak demand in AAR during the initial phase of an operation or conflict when air superiority is not yet assured, for instance by expanding the MMF fleet. “EDA stands ready to assist interested Member States in the process to explore their potential participation in this important project”, Mr Domecq said.  And finally, in the longer term, the challenge is to close the remaining capability gap, both in strategic and tactical AAR, including by developing automated/autonomous air to air refuelling systems (A3R) as a useful complement to manned AAR capabilities. “It is evident that the future of AAR will be automated”. 

EDA will organise a workshop on 28 January 2020 to bring together Member States and industry to discuss the way ahead on this topic.

• AAR Conference paper
• Speech by EDA Chief executive Jorge Domecq
• Video message by Dutch Minister of Defence Ank Bijleveld
• Speech by NATO Assistant SG for Defence Investment, Camille Grand

After a test run in 2018, EDA has now completed the first fully-fletched Defence Energy Managers’ Course (DEMC)  in which participated a total of 17 students from eight EDA Member States. The course, one of the Agency’s most recent training and education activities, aims at increasing Armed Forces’ energy efficiency and reducing the military’s overall energy consumption through the introduction of defence-specific energy management systems based on the ISO 50001 standard.  

The DEMC provided both theoretical and practical training to energy managers from Member States’ ground forces and air forces as well as navies. The course was launched in November 2018 and attended by personnel from the Armed Forces and/or Ministries of Defence from Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.  

The course was split into five distinct modules: three classroom-type sessions and two more practical modules which, in total, lasted some 11 months. Participants increased their knowledge of the complexities of managing energy within a defence organisation (energy management systems were applied to different military installations, from air and naval bases to governmental facilities) and learned how to structure and implement efficient energy management systems. Throughout the course, students were supported by mentors and members of the European Defence Energy Network (EDEN) which also allowed them to have permanent access to the networks’ on-line resources.

The successful completion of the first DEMC marks an important milestone in EDA’s efforts aimed to increase energy sustainability in defence sector and reduce the military’s environmental footprint, also building on the work done in the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CFSEDSS) sponsored by the European Commission and the Agency’s own Energy and Environmental Working Group.

Two additional courses are currently underway; they will be completed by May 2020.

The whole DEMC project is run by EDA’s Industry, Synergies & Enablers Directorate (ISE) and delivered by GEN Europe and the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources & Savings (CRES). 

• Third Defence Management course launched
  
  

EDA’s 2019 Military Airworthiness Conference, a two-days event organised with the support of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence, was opened today in Vilnius by EDA’s Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu. 

The conference brings together key stakeholders from national authorities, industry, European agencies and international organisations, to exchange views and best practices related to the harmonisation of European military airworthiness rules and standards. Common airworthiness approaches and standards are viewed as critical enablers for enhanced European defence cooperation.  

Over the two days, four main topics are being addressed through specific sessions: i) the impact of European Military Airworthiness Requirements (EMARs) on military aviation; ii) opportunities and challenges related to that; iii) lessons learned from EMARs implementation so far; iv) and the experiences made by third-party stakeholders.
Good progress made over past 10 years

In his opening speech, EDA Deputy Chief Olli Ruutu thanked the Lithuanian Armed Forces for hosting the event and for their strong interest in the work of the Military Airworthiness Authorities (MAWA) Forum and the harmonisation of airworthiness approaches.  

Since work started ten years ago on the harmonisation of airworthiness approaches in Europe, much has been achieved, Mr Ruutu said.  “So far almost 50% of EDA’s participating Member States have already implemented the European Military Airworthiness Requirements in their national regulations or are in the process of doing so”. However, “implementation of EMARs is not only about translating them in regulations but also about turning them into practice. And that makes EMAR-implementation the most important and complicated phase in the harmonisation process and crucial for gaining the full benefits”, he stressed. Implementing the EMARs often means a different approach to military airworthiness that requires a change in safety culture, the Deputy Chief Executive stated. 

Further progress is also required as regards the cooperation between the national military airworthiness authorities in Europe, a topic which is already in the focus of the MAWA Forum.  “Since last year when the MAWA Forum adopted a new airworthiness roadmap, the forum has started several activities to develop harmonised practices and procedures with the objective to increase the level of standardisation and cooperation in the area of initial approvals of and oversight over organisations that provide services in the military airworthiness domain”, Mr Ruutu recalled. In parallel, Member States are engaged in mutual recognitions. “So far, 35 active recognitions are already in place between EDA participating Member States and several recognitions have been concluded with Military Airworthiness Authorities from other countries worldwide. This helps to build mutual trust and confidence which are the cornerstones for cooperation”, Mr Ruutu welcomed. 
 

Based on this, Member States should now consider which additional cooperation steps they could take in the area of military airworthiness in line with their PESCO commitments, he said. “I believe it is the right moment to focus on the establishment of a permanent cooperative working structure for military airworthiness authorities that aims to aligning the national airworthiness systems towards a single reference without affecting national sovereignty as regards airworthiness risk acceptance. This would not only facilitate an increased efficiency in certification, approval and oversight activities but also provide industry with a single framework to meet the requirements of all countries”, Mr Ruutu said.
 

The Military Airworthiness Authorities (MAWA) Forum oversees the development and maintenance of the European Military Airworthiness Requirements (EMARs) and promotes ways and means to harmonise the military airworthiness oversight across Europe.

Picture: Bundeswehr Technical Center for Information Technology and Electronics in Greding (Germany)

With its final working group meeting held at the Agency premises on 26 September, EDA’s European Network on Electro Magnetic Effects Test & Evaluation capabilities Rationalisation (ENTER) project has been officially concluded. 

Launched in 2014 as a so-called Category B project within the EDA’s Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB) initiative, it was supported by eight Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands. The main objective of ENTER has been achieved: the creation of a coordinated network of EME (Electro-Magnetic Effects) test centres in the participating countries, which will facilitate the future cooperation among them based on a shared technical understanding and background. The various centres attached to the network are: 

• Armament and Defence Technology Agency, Electrical Engineering Division (Vienna, Austria)
• Royal Military Academy, Department of Communication Information Systems & Sensors (Brussels, Belgium)
• Military Technical Institute (Prague, Czech Republic)
• WTD 81 - Bundeswehr Technical Center for Information Technology and Electronics (Greding, Germany)
• CISAM - Centro Interforze Studi Applicazioni Militari (Pisa, Italy)
• INTA - Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerospacial (Torrejon de Ardoz - Madrid, Spain)
• FMV - Swedish Defence Materiel Administration – T&E Division (Ostersund, Sweden)
• RNLM/DMI/MT Sensors and Weapon Systems (Den Helder, The Netherland).

The network of EME test centres and related national experts will now continue to cooperate in the specific EME sector within the DTEB framework. The damaging effects of electromagnetic interference pose unacceptable risks in military technologies. Against this backdrop, the ENTER network will jointly develop ways and means in order to mitigate the risks of fatal electromagnetic interference during EU missions, among other things by examining the hazardous impact of civil equipment on military operations and vice versa.

Besides working on the network, the ENTER project also allowed participating Member States to conduct joint tests, to promote the use of harmonised test procedures, maintain and develop T&E capabilities and expertise and share knowledge, expertise and equipment. ENTER’s results and final recommendations will be further exploited to improve the EME section of the DTEB database.
 

• Defence Test and Evaluation Base (DTEB) – EDA project page

EDA’s Steering Board has just approved the launch of a 4-year CAT B project aimed at developing a swarm of biomimetic underwater vehicles for underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (SABUVIS II). It builds upon previous collaboration carried out under the SABUVIS I project which was completed in 2019. So far, two Member States (Poland, Germany) are contributing to this new project for which a project arrangement is expected to be signed later next year.

The new project is important for defence as Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are being increasingly utilised for a variety of differing tasks in the maritime environment. They represent a viable alternative to the operation of manned platforms and are particularly well suited to the rigours of an inhospitable domain that places a premium on technical advancements. 

Taking the natural world as its template, this collaborative project seeks to replicate some of the key features of marine life, principally those of propulsion and behaviour, so as to ensure the successful completion of underwater operations. A key feature of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions (ISR) for example, is the necessity to undertake these missions covertly, and those systems that are difficult to detect, both visually and audibly, provide the optimum solution. 

This project is a continuation of the successful collaboration enjoyed between Poland, Germany and Portugal in the first SABUVIS project. In this first iteration, three different Biomimetic Underwater Vehicles (BUVs) were constructed with the resulting conclusion that BUVs can be designed with varying degrees of similarity with living organisms. Some of the identified benefits are that undulating propulsion consumes less electrical energy than conventional propulsion systems utilising screw based propellers, and different hydroacoustic signatures are produced with a corresponding lower noise level. 

This second phase will now expand upon, and investigate further, the swarm aspects with more tightly cooperating vehicles, moving in formations and consisting of vehicles having specific functions or tasks to perform. The project in particular will focus on the lead vehicles, who are responsible for the navigation function. 

The expected advantages of utilising vehicles in a swarm are reliability and efficiency. Firstly, the swarm system can incorporate redundant elements, essentially extra vehicles, which increases reliability in performing a task – the loss of one element does not result in the mission being abandoned. Secondly, the distribution of sensors and devices necessary to perform the mission across a number of vehicles makes it possible to reduce the size and complexity of vehicles and thus ensures simpler construction. Technological areas that the project will also focus on are in the area of navigation and principally in GPS denied areas, optical surface coastal navigation systems and new biomimetic drives.  

The principle organisations planned to undertake this project are the Polish Naval Academy and also the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle für Schiffe und Marinewaffen der Bundeswehr, Maritime Technologie und Forschung (WTD 71) in Germany. The project is as a result of the successful cooperation in EDA’s Maritime Capability Technology Group. 

The Cooperative Financial Mechanism (CFM), an innovative programme initiated by EDA with a view to facilitating the financing of collaborative defence capability and research projects – for instance if unsynchronised defence budgets in participating Member States hinder or impede the launch of such projects – is now in the starting blocks. The final version of the CFM’s Programme Arrangement (PA), negotiated over the past two years, has been sent out this week to Member States for signing.

Ten Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain) have already declared their firm willingness to sign and to join the CFM in the near future. Six more countries might join the programme in the coming weeks. The CFM will enter into force when the last country having declared its intention to join will have signed the PA. 

Developed as a so-called ‘Category A’ programme of the Agency, the CFM is entirely voluntary. Member States can freely decide if they wish to participate, contribute and support projects.

The CFM will be structured in two pillars:

• the first pillar foresees the European Investment Bank (EIB) as the sole lender through the conclusion of bilateral framework loan agreements between EIB and the interested Member State. To obtain the EIB’s financial support, projects submitted must respect the eligibility requirements set by the Bank lending policy, while the volume of the lending facility and the interest rate applied are negotiated on a case-by-case basis by the EIB and the interested MS and set out under each individual Framework Loan Agreement. The EIB involvement is supported and facilitated by the EDA which will act as the ‘Facility Agent’ on behalf of EIB under its instructions and responsibility, serving as a primary point of contact between the EIB and the beneficiary country in the technical assessment of the feasibility of each project;
• the second pillar provides for a State-to-State support facility, structured as a system of reimbursable advances and deferred payments. It can be used to support any defence related project, in full compliance with national and European law. The facility is structured as a set of individual bank accounts which are opened and managed by the EDA under the control of the CFM participating Member States. Within that pillar, any CFM Member can submit a request for financial support to the CFM programme. While the Programme Arrangement provides the overarching legal framework setting the general requirements and conditions for State-to-State support, the specific conditions of each advance will be set out in separate agreements to be concluded between the supporting CFM Member State, the beneficiary country and the EDA, as facilitator.
  The administrative and operational costs of the CFM will be covered by existing EDA resources meaning CFM members will not have to bear additional costs for the management of the mechanism. Notwithstanding any financial support granted under the CFM, projects or programmes subject to such financial support will remain at all times governed and managed according to their own rules.
  
  

• European Defence Agency and European Investment Bank sign cooperation agreement (EDA webnews February 2018)

Defence is a central public sector which consumes a significant amount of energy. Increasing energy efficiency and boosting renewable energy can bring significant advantages to the sector and help with the protection of critical energy infrastructure. In addition, these efforts can contribute to the EU’s climate-neutrality objective for 2050. The importance of these policies for the defence sector was highlighted by the launch in Brussels on 19 September of the third phase of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS III). Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, and Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA), gave the green light for the Phase III of the Forum to start as of 1st October 2019. 

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed the welcomed the launch of phase III, stressing that “the Consultation Forum enabled several Ministries of Defence to develop national defence energy strategies, implement Energy Management Systems and launch projects related to energy performance. Particularly, the forum facilitated the elaboration of 18 defence-energy project proposals, in addition to numerous project ideas. EDA expects that the realisation of these projects can act as an enabler of military operational capabilities and support the Ministries to address common energy challenges at multi-national level.” 

Phase III of the Forum, which will last for four years, will continue to address the implementation of the EU legal framework on energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy security in the defence and security sector in. It will also aim at preparing the defence sector for new technologies such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence, e-mobility and other innovative energy systems.  

Phase III will also see the organisation of a series of important events, from high-level conferences to thematic workshops and table-top exercises. Another focus will be put on bringing closer the energy and defence communities and facilitate the dialogue between experts from the Ministries of Defence, Energy and Interior to create synergies and effective solutions. To this end, the EDA and the European Commission’s Directorate for Energy intend to organise a Joint Defence Energy Conference.
 

• Website: Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector 
• Factsheet: CF SEDSS (Phase II)

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq travelled to Ljubljana today for talks with Slovenian Minister of Defence Karl Erjavec, State Secretary Miloš Bizjak, as well as other high-level military and industry representatives.

The main topics discussed during the bilateral meetings included the state of play and way forward of the various EU defence initiatives (CARD, PESCO, European Defence Fund) and the implementation of the 2018 EU Capability Development Priorities (CDP). Particular emphasis was put on the need to ensure coherence among the EU defence initiatives and a steady focus on the agreed CDP priorities.

The meetings also focused on Slovenia’s participation in EDA projects and programmes. Minister Erjavec and Mr Domecq for example exchanged views on the next steps regarding the RES-HUB (Defence RESilience Hub Network in Europe) project, an innovative Slovenian project proposal on building a renewable energy harvesting and hydrogen (H2) energy storage capability within the EU. The project was elaborated in the context of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) with the support of EDA.

“Slovenia offers our continuous support to the Agency’s role as the forum for prioritisation, project support and interface towards wider EU policies. Of special importance, we see the Agency’s interactions with the European Commission in regard to its role in establishing the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) and European Defence Fund. We also believe that EDA as a part of the PESCO secretariat has been crucial in the development of projects, establishing dialogue between Member States and providing coherence between different defence and security initiatives on the EU level.

A project which we will try to facilitate through the EDA format is the project RES-HUB. Further development of this project is essential for us in view of decreasing the carbon footprint in the defence sector. We see this project as a possibility to highlight our efforts during our Presidency in the second half of 2021”, Minister Erjavec said during the meeting.

“It is very important for the European Defence Agency to have a clear idea of what the Slovenian authorities expect from the Agency in this crucial moment of EU defence cooperation. After the successful launch of the different EU defence initiatives, the emphasis is now on the implementation of PESCO and CARD as well as the European Defence Fund. At the same time I welcome Slovenia’s RES-HUB initiative as the project has the potential to contribute to more energy resilient European armed forces, said Mr Domecq.

During his visit, the EDA Chief Executive also welcomed the possibility to exchange with the Slovenian defence industry on matters of EU defence cooperation.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Air Transport Command (EATC) today established a new cooperation framework - through an exchange of letters - that will further strengthen the ties between the two organisations. 

The exchange of letters, which took place at the EDA premises in the presence of EATC Commander Major General Laurent Marboeuf and EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq, builds on the already existing, good cooperation between the two following the trilateral Letter of Intent concluded between EDA, EATC and OCCAR-EA in January 2018 and which focused on the joint optimisation and development of the A400M capability within the remit of EATC.  

The letters exchanged today identify new areas for enhanced cooperation between the EDA and EATC, inter alia: 

• Air Mobility (including airlift,  air-to-air refuelling, aeromedical evacuation, air dropping activity and  logistical and technical supporting functions)
• Fixed-wing training cooperation in the domains listed above
• Military Aviation (including in the context of the Military Airworthiness Authorities Forum and the progressive introduction of a Total System Approach to Military Aviation)
• Military Mobility in the framework of the EU action plan (including ground handling and dangerous goods activities)
• Other cross-cutting activities subject to interactions.

The new cooperation framework will allow EDA and EATC to make the best use of available resources to achieve common objectives within their respective scopes of competence. The EDA Chief Executive and the EATC Commander will meet on an annual basis to discuss the implementation of this cooperation. 

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed the enhanced cooperation with EATC. “I am confident that, through our cooperation, EDA and the EATC can bring added value to our respective Member States by reducing administrative burden, improving exchange of expertise and facilitating common action thereby avoiding unnecessary duplication and making the best use of our respective resources”, Mr Domecq stated. 

EATC Commander Major General Laurent Marboeuf stated: “I welcome this deeper cooperation with EDA which, through the pooling of expertise of two main European defence organisations, will ease the multinational military operations and support our Participating Nations / Member States in the aviation and Air Mobility domains”.
 

The Eindhoven-based European Air Transport Command (EATC) was established by the Technical Arrangement of EATC on 1 September 2010. The Mission of the European Air Transport Command is to enhance the combined operational capabilities of Participating Nations and improve the effectiveness and efficiency in conducting air transport, air-to-air refuelling, and aeromedical evacuation missions. This multinational headquarter integrates transferred national responsibilities and resources to ensure efficient operational control, to facilitate harmonization and thus to increase interoperability.
 

• EDA, EATC and OCCAR-EA enhance cooperation for A400M in-service phase (EDA webnews, January 2018)
• European Air Transport Command website

The EDA Steering Board approved end of August the way ahead for the new Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) to be established in Sintra, Portugal. The European Defence (EDA) together with 18 of its Member States will now develop the technical arrangement (TA) for the opening of this new advanced tactical helicopter training facility by the end of 2022. 

Approval for the centre marks the latest milestone in a long line of important helicopter projects managed by the Agency since 2009.  EDA currently hosts three collaborative helicopter programmes, which fill a helicopter training capability gap in Europe and are a key component of operational capacity building. The three programmes are aimed at improving European interoperability and increasing standardisation of helicopter aircrews through the adoption of common training activities and the use of common Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs). All tactics are developed refined and tested before being included in the Helicopter Exercise Programme Standard Operating Procedures (HEP SOP).
 

The Agency’s helicopter work includes a Helicopter Tactics Course (HTC) and a Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC).  The first project focusses on improving the tactical ability of crews through an integrated training course of classroom and simulator instruction that is currently conducted at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in the United Kingdom. The HTC provides a solid foundation for whole crew training and was later developed into the Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course, which takes experienced aircrew and further develops their skills in a “Train the Trainer” course, delivering advanced helicopter tactics and the Helicopter Tactics Instructor (HTI) qualification. The HTIC includes a ground phase delivered in the UK, and a live flying element conducted in Sweden.
 

The third element of EDA’s helicopter activities is the Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP) which brings together multinational helicopter crews and an array of assets (fixed wing, Electronic Warfare, ground troops, Special Forces, etc) in an annual multinational training exercise covering the performance of complex missions in demanding environmental areas. The exercises are conducted under the BLADE banner. The next exercise will be SWIFT BLADE, to be delivered in Belgium and the Netherlands in April 2020.

However, EDA does not have the vocation to be a long-term training provider, but rather a catalyst for cooperative training. The Agency launches initiatives that can provide added value to Member States and when these are consolidated and have reached a sufficient level of maturity, the Agency encourages Member States or multinational organisations to take over the administrative and organisational responsibility of the activities, allowing the EDA to free-up resources and focus on developing new initiatives.
 

EDA has been successfully managing the three helicopter programmes for over a decade, and during the next five year period, they will progressively be transferred outside EDA to the future Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC).

The MHTC will consist of office space for the technical, administrative and training delivery  staff, simulator facilities and a dedicated accommodation block. In addition, it will also develop a more coordinated approach to European helicopter training and will try to harmonise national approaches and drive synergies with NATO doctrine.

The concept development phase of the project was concluded in January 2019 and has now gained ministerial approval to develop the legally binding Technical Arrangement (TA), which will define the objectives, benefits, roles and capabilities of the centre together with agreement on budget and manpower allocation.  The first MHTC project team meeting will be held at EDA in September with the signature of the Technical Arrangement targeted for the end of 2020.

On 5 and 6 September 2019 the kick-off meeting of the TALOS project is held at the European Defence Agency (EDA). TALOS is one of the three projects selected in the 2018 call for proposals for the EU Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) in the field of defence research. A grant agreement for TALOS worth €5.4 million was signed on 26 July 2019 between EDA and the winning consortium led by CILAS.

The Research Action on the topic ‘Toward a European high-power effector’ called TALOS (Tactical Advanced Laser Optical System) was selected following an EU-wide call for proposals organised by EDA closing on 28 June 2018. The action focuses on a research and technological development (R&T) project to design and build a European high power laser effector, to become available for defence applications within the next decade. The winning consortium encompasses a total of 16 participants from nine countries. (More information on the consortium can be found in the TALOS project page.)  

EDA Chief Executive underlined at the kick-off meeting that the scope of the TALOS project was in line with the 2018 Capability Development Plan priorities. In addition, the relevance of the topic is further confirmed by a dedicated Technology Building Block on Laser Weapon Systems, in the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA). 

The TALOS project is part of the Preparatory Action, aimed at testing the mechanisms that can prepare, organise and deliver a variety of EU-funded cooperative defence research and technology development (R&T) activities to improve the competitiveness and innovation in the European defence industry and to stimulate cooperation amongst R&T actors in the EU Member States. 

The signature of this grant agreement continues the path towards EU defence integration and paves the way for developing a future European Defence Fund, especially its research dimension, as part of the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).  

The PADR implementation is run by the European Defence Agency (EDA) following the mandate via a Delegation Agreement between the European Commission and EDA signed on 31 May 2017. By this agreement the European Commission entrusts EDA with the management and implementation of the research projects to be launched within the PADR.  

TALOS kick-off meeting © EDA

• Financial decision
• 2018 calls for proposals published for PA on Defence Research (EDA webnews, 15 March 2018)
• Factsheet ‘Preparatory Action for CSDP-related research’
• Preparatory Action for Defence Research (EDA project page) 
• PADR TALOS project page

Jorge Domecq, EDA Chief Executive, travelled to Zagreb for meetings with Damir Krstičević, Coatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Mirko Šundov, Chief of the General Staff, Croatian Armed Forces and other high-level representatives in the Croatian Ministry of Defence. 

The main topics discussed during the bilateral meetings at the Croatian Ministry of Defence included the current state of play and way ahead in the implementation of the various EU defence initiatives (PESCO, CARD, European Defence Fund), the implementation of the revised EU Capability Development Priorities adopted in June 2018 and Croatia’s current and potential participation in EDA projects and programmes.  

Mr Domecq and Deputy Prime Minister Krstičević also discussed the defence and security priorities for the upcoming Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

“The focus in the defence range during the Croatian presidency will be placed on implementation of defence initiatives such as PESCO, CARD and military mobility, with the emphasis on their coherence and complementarity, as well as on the industrial dimension of defence (European Defence Fund) and on the enhanced NATO-the EU co-operation and further EU efforts in southeast Europe“, said Minister Krstičević, who also announced a defence industry conference with the partners from the EU, during the Croatian presidency. 

“EDA is deeply committed to supporting all its Member States, irrespective of their size. The current and upcoming Presidency are opportunities to further advance the embedding of the EU defence initiatives in the national defence plans and programmes with the aim of achieving a more collaborate, efficient and interoperable European defence”, Jorge Domecq said. In particular, Mr Domecq confirmed the Agency’s interest to support the organisation of a high-level defence industry conference in the first half of 2020. 

Mr Domecq also had the opportunity to meet among others with with Robert Hranj, Vice Admiral, Director of the General Staff, Croatian Armed Forces, Zdravko Jakop, State Secretary, and Luka Barilović, President of Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

On 17 October 2019, NATO and the European Defence Agency (EDA) will co-organise for the first time a joint Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) conference in Europe. 

The conference will bring together key decision-makers from the EU and NATO as well as the wider transatlantic and international AAR community, including industry, to discuss current and future challenges and coordinate efforts in this important domain. The global dimension of the solutions at hand to resolve remaining shortfalls and the role of industry will also be debated.

Confirmed speakers include, among many others, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, and the EDA Chief Executive, Jorge Domecq as well as the Chairman of the Aerial Refuelling Systems Advisory Group (ARSAG), General John Sams, and high-level representatives from Member States and industry. 

During last year’s first AAR conference organised in Europe by EDA, the focus was on ensuring awareness about remaining shortfalls in AAR. This year’s co-organised event will focus on increasing interoperability and will involve industry/manufacturers to debate their role in this process.

Attendance to the conference is upon invitation only.
 

• aarconference.org
• EDA to organize 1st AAR Conference in Europe 2018 (EDA events page)
• AAR (EDA project page)

(picture: Défense Conseil International, DCI)

Joint diving operations involving different EU Member States’ Navies remain almost impossible because up till now, there are no common European diving standards which would allow such cooperation. This lack of interoperability has led to a severe shortage in ships and rescue divers which are indispensable assets in every national or international naval operation.

To enable cooperation and enhance interoperability among Member States' military diving squads, EDA’s Project Team Naval Training launched a ‘Naval Training Support Study’ (NTSS) in 2012, focused on three aspects: navigation training, naval mine warfare, and diving training. The aim of this study, the results of which were presented in 2014, was to provide a landscape of existing capabilities, propose possible common requirements, derive shortfalls based on a gap analysis, and propose recommendations to solve them. As regards Diving Training, the study made several recommendations, including to establish a doctrine concerning military diving (starting with air/ship diver), to establish a shared diving regulation to meet the operational needs, to standardise training & operational qualification criteria and to have a common certification process for diving centres. A follow-up to the NTSS study (phase 2) was commissioned in 2017 and completed in December 2017. It delivered, among others, a comprehensive set of data and analyses of Member States’ national diving standards, a common requirements list for ship divers and minimum qualification standards for military divers. The results were presented to EDA’s Project Team Naval Training in January 2018.

Based on the extended NTSS study and the conclusions of a diving workshop held in La Spezia (Italy) in September 2017, EDA launched a new project in spring 2018 in order to design and conduct a course module to harmonise European ship diving and ship-based rescue diving standards and practices. The overall objective is the identification, recognition and mutual certification of common EU military diving standards.
 

As part of that ongoing project, and in order to test and confirm the practical implications involved in joint diving training and operation, an EDA ‘showcase event’ was held on 3 April 2019 in the harbour of St.Mandrier, near Toulon (France). Four diving teams from Germany, Spain, Poland and Romania participated in this exercise, as well as high ranking naval officers from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Poland and Romania. The aim was to conduct joint interventions under real conditions based on realistic naval incident scenarios and to demonstrate how the proposed common standards would successfully work in practice. As an example: Romanian and Polish divers worked hand in hand to recover an anchor while Spanish and a German diving team jointly inspected a Frigate’s hull and performed repair work on a pier using heavy underwater welding equipment. The practical part of the event was complemented by a static display of different equipment and procedures ashore.

The event was hailed as a great success by all participants.  EDA’s Project Team Naval Training was encouraged to continue promoting the identified standards and seek their swift endorsement by EU Member States as a next step.  Commodore Michael Malone, Flag Officer Commanding the Irish Naval Service, who attended the event commented that “EU common diving standards will facilitate greater pooling and sharing of diving training across Member States, while enhancing interoperability”.

EDA has launched a 3rd call for papers from defence industry, academia and research institutes on the topic of Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) in the context to EDA’s Industry Exchange Platform on RPAS Air Traffic Integration (ATI).

The call focuses on RPAS ATI in European airspace in the timeframe 2025-2030 and aims at gathering industry proposals on new R&D and validation activities needed in the RPAS ATI domain in the following technical areas:

• Health Monitoring
• Remote Pilot Stations

The responses to this call for papers will drive the ideation of potential project proposals during the 3rd formal meeting of EDA’s RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform which will take place at EDA on 8 November 2019. They will also be used to update the RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform contributors list, in view of potentially inviting additional industry participants to this initiative.  

• Download the call for papers here
• Send your completed files to ise@eda.europa.eu with a copy to juanignacio.delvalle@eda.europa.eu 
• Deadline for submissions is 27 September 2019

EDA’s RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform is part of the Agency’s approach towards establishing a structured dialogue and enhanced engagement with industry based on a set of priority actions, as supported by the EDA Steering Board on 18 May 2017. The initiative is in line with the coordinated approach amongst the main European stakeholders in Single European Sky.

The purpose of EDA’s RPAS ATI Industry Exchange Platform is:

• to establish a regular dialogue with industry on a key priority: MALE RPAS integration in the European ATM System in the 2025 – 2030 timeframe
• to share information on current R&D initiatives and strategies, also on industry side, in the RPAS ATI domain
• to identify technology gaps and solutions that can benefit both civil and military applications.

Juan Ignacio DEL VALLE
Project Officer Air Programmes
juanignacio.delvalle@eda.europa.eu
T+32 2 504 29 26

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is as of now on included in EDA’s 'Identifunding' online tool accessible via its European Funding Gateway for Defence. The tool, launched in March 2019, allows defence-interested stakeholders to identify on a personalised and tailored basis the precise EU funding schemes available for their specific defence-relevant projects.

The funding opportunities that are scanned through IdentiFunding include grants, loans and equity, including under the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), the EU Structural Funds, COSME, LIFE and Erasmus+.
 
The EIB has now agreed to add its project loans to the spectrum of more than 20 funding sources at European level that are scanned instantly by the ‘IdentiFunding’ tool based on a confidential and swift 10-minutes/10-answers process.

The above-mentioned EIB financing intervenes when the requested volume is higher than €7.5 million. These loans can cover up to 50% of the total cost for both public and private bodies for projects in line with EIB’s lending criteria and  priorities.

EDA and the EIB signed a cooperation agreement in February 2018 to support investments in defence research and development activities, with a view to strengthen the EIB’s support for RDI for dual-use technologies, cybersecurity and civilian security infrastructure.

The main aim of the IdentiFunding tool is to save budget, time and human resources usually required for defence stakeholders in order to identify whether their project and entities qualify for potential EU support. It is available to industry, Ministries of Defence (MoDs), Research-and-Technology-Organisations (RTOs) and academia.

More than 180 defence-interested entities from 26 EU Member States are already registered as ‘IdentiFunding’ users, e.g. MoDs, Armed Forces, National Defence Industry Associations (NDIAs), defence-related clusters, primes/large companies, mid-caps, Small-and-Medium-sized-Enterprises (SMEs), RTOs and universities.

EDA’s ‘IdentiFunding’ will be constantly updated to also include new funding opportunities arising under the EU’s upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, such as the European Defence Fund and the InvestEU Programme.
 
 

• EDA-EIB Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
• EDA SME corner
• EDA Industry Engagement Roadmap 2019

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq was in Lisbon today for talks with the Portuguese Minister of National Defence, João Cravinho, as well as with the Director-General for National Defence Policy, Nunho Pinheiro Torres, the Director-General for Defence Resources, Alberto Coelho, the Political Director-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pedro Costa Pereira, the Director for Defence and Security, Jorge Aranda, as well as the Deputy Political Director-General for Defence and Security, Ana Paula Moreira. He also met with representatives of the Portuguese Defence Industry. 

The main topics discussed during the meetings included the practical implementation of the revised EU Capability Development Priorities adopted in June 2018 (especially through the Strategic Context Cases developed by EDA) as well as the state of play and way ahead in the implementation of the EU defence initiatives (PESCO, CARD, European Defence Fund). In this respect, particular emphasis was put on the need to ensure coherence among all those initiatives and a steady focus on the agreed CDP priorities. Portugal’s current and potential future contributions to EDA projects and programmes, the implications of the Agency’s recent Long-Term Review, EU-NATO relations, Military Mobility and the defence and security related priorities of the upcoming Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU (first half of 2021) were also discussed. 
 

Mr Domecq thanked the Portuguese authorities for their willingness to host the future Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) which should open its doors in 2021 at Sintra Airbase. The Centre will secure a long-term home for EDA’s three helicopter projects: HTC, HTIC and HEP, which have been successfully sponsored by the Agency since 2009.  The MHTC concept was agreed by the EDA Steering Board on 18 February 2019 and covered objectives, missions and expected structure of the centre. Subject to a further Steering Board decision, the MHTC Project Team could begin its work in autumn to produce the Technical Agreement (TA) that will form the legal basis for the Centre’s operations.  “We very much appreciate Portugal’s very strong support to EDA’s helicopter activities and look forward to a close working relationship with the host nation”, Mr Domecq commented. 

Minister Cravinho stated: "It will be a great satisfaction to host the Multinational Helicopter Training Centre, in Sintra. The Ministry of Defence and the Portuguese Air Force developed a strong business case in order to show that Portugal could host this training centre of great importance for several European countries, and we are very pleased that this has been recognized". 

"Portugal is very pleased to work closely with the EDA. EDA plays a unique and necessary role in the development of Europe’s Defence Identity, which we believe to be of great significance in this very rapidly changing world. European defence cooperation has expanded in an unprecedented manner in the past couple of years, and Portugal is keen to participate in this process", Mr Cravinho added.