Interoperable communications networks of paramount importance
During the Security & Defence Agenda’s roundtable, co-organised with the Atlantic Council of the United States, on the outlook for security and defence technologies held on 5 May, one of the key points that emerged was the importance of having interoperable communications networks both in Europe and between Europe and the US. This is important not just for combat operations abroad but also for the exchange of information between civilian and military users as part of the reconstruction process in countries where the international community is active. It also emerged that the European Defence Agency is working towards proposing research and technology priorities for its member countries.
For more information on the speakers and the programme please click here.
This event was organised with the support of EADS and Motorola.
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The Security & Defence Agenda (SDA) is Brussels' leading security and defence think-tank. We are based in the Bibliothèque Solvay in the Parc Léopold next to the European Parliament.
The building houses the SDA team and serves as the venue for almost all SDA events in Brussels.
SDA's media partner, Europe's World, is now published in French. Click here to subscribe.
SDA's sister think-tank, Friends of Europe, is a prominent and lively Brussels-based think-tank for EU policy analysis and debate.
The SDA is proud to publish the second half of its discussion paper looking at the state of NATO-ESDP relations.
It includes contributions from Alyson Bailes of the University of Iceland; Julianne Smith of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington; Yves Boyer from the Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique (FRS) in Paris; Rafael Bardaji from the Madrid-based Fundacion para el analisis el estudios social (FAES); Roberto Menotti of the Aspen Institute Italia in Rome and Derek Marshall and Tim Williams of the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC).
To download the Discussion Paper please click here.
On Monday 14 April, the first round of the Transatlantic Defence Dialogue was successfully launched. The Security & Defence Agenda (SDA) and the Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS) organised a roundtable on EU-US Defence Cooperation to address recent developments on the transatlantic defence market, such as the EADS tanker deal and the new US-UK Defence Trade Cooperation Treaty. The first session asked whether an EU defence budget would help close the transatlantic spending gap. Hilmar Linnenkamp, currently Chief of Armaments at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU and former Deputy Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, pointed to three embryonic elements of an EU defence budget. Linnenkamp was joined by Francois Fayard, Armaments Counsellor at the French Delegation to NATO, Richard Froh, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment of NATO andMichael Ryan, Defence Advisor at the US Mission to the EU. During the second session, panellists in Brussels and Washington discussed the question marks over export control reforms. In his opening remarks, Frank Kenlon, Director of International Negotiations in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, said that the tanker deal between EADS (Northrop Grumman) and the US Air Force was a good thing as it showed the willingness of the EU and US to do business together on business projects. Jacques Gansler, a former US Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition emphasised the technological and military arguments for more cooperation but mentioned there is a lot of resistance. A summary of debates will be released in the coming weeks.
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