Entries for the 'Reform' Category

On Tuesday April 10th, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding giving way to future defence partnership.

Sten Tolgfors, Swedish Defence Minister, resigned yesterday over Swedish plans to help Saudi Arabia build an arms factory. The story, which has dominated Swedish headlines, dates back to 2007 when the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI)

The UK government might make a U-turn on the ongoing procurement project of the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, which includes the equipment of aircraft carriers with appropriate catapults.

According to the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, Japan is going to ease its decades-old ban on weapons exports to boost its defence economy.

China yesterday announced an increase of its defence spending this year by 11.2 per cent, triggering international concerns about the country’s military intentions.

In the scope of a meeting with German Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta outlined the details of upcoming US troop changes in Europe.

The delays to US defence procurement projects intended to save money within overall spending cuts commitments could raise costs in the long-run, defence experts in Washington D.C. highlighted.

One of the major innovations of the new US Defense Strategic Review is the emphasis on challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the goal to foster progress in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa.

According to a leaked document published by The Guardian, the UK Defence Ministry will undertake major job cuts of its senior staff.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution concerning a stronger harmonisation of European defence policies last week.

The UK is to seek new military alliances and will no longer invest in large-scale military missions, declares Chief of Staff Gen. Sir David Richards in his annual “state of the union” address on December 14th.

New UK Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond announced yesterday that the agreed increase in spending for military equipment as of 2015 will not be affected by further budget cuts.

The White House has announced that it will close possible loopholes for the Pentagon to shift different parts of its budget and circumvent cuts to its base budget as of 2013.

The Netherlands are aiming to strengthen cooperation with other European countries and play a pioneering role in multinational defence projects.

European defence ministers agreed on a range of projects for pooling defence capabilities at their Brussels meeting on November 30th.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Gen. Martin Dempsey, new US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of the consequences of the foreseen spending cuts ($450bn over the next 10 years) on US Army operability.

According to Stéphane Beemelmans, Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Defence, Germany and France should cooperate on unmanned armed vehicles (UAV) projects.

The Austrian army will considerably reduce the number of its armed vehicles by the end of 2013, as announced by Defence Minister Norbert Darabos yesterday.

Ahead of NATO’s Chicago Summit in May 2012, the Alliance has launched an initiative for concrete pooling of defence resources.

In the framework of the East Asia Summit on Bali, the US and Indonesia announced the planned purchase of 24 F-16 fighter aircraft by the Indonesian government.

The announced failure of the so-called US congressional supercommittee will generate a new debate on US defence spending cuts.

Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and member of the SDA advisory board, was nominated the new Italian Minister of Defence yesterday.

The German government is scheduled to buy a 7.5% stake of the EADS in 2012 in order to allow carmaker Daimler to make 15% cuts in the airbus. The deal worth €1.2 bn is a step closer to Daimler’s goal of selling out EADS to focus on the car industry.

NATO is pressing Georgia to step up its political and military reforms to enable faster accession into the Alliance. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised Georgia’s current reform process and their contributions to the mission in Afghanistan of 900 troops.

Drawing from the experiences of the ongoing eurozone crisis and the Arab uprisings, panellists Jan Borkowski, Polish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Delon, French Secretary General for Defence and National Security, Ivan Soltanovskiy, Director of European Cooperation at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

Greek Prime Minister Georg Papandreou, who faces a vote of no confidence this Friday, fired the entire high commend of the Greek armed forces including several other high ranking officials, replacing them with officers more loyal towards Papandreou’s leadership.

The Swedish parliamentary opposition Social Democrats (SDP) heavily criticised the administration of Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeld for its cuts in defence spending, and announced the drafting of their own defence strategy.

The German government is planning to reduce its fighter jet and helicopter orders from the European aerospace company EADS.

Chief of Defence of the Danish Armed Forces General Knud Bartel, was elected by NATO’s 28 Chiefs of Defence as the Alliance’s new Chairman of the Military Committee.

On June 29 the Security & Defence Agenda organised an international conference entitled “Shaping NATO’s reform agenda” with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, NATO, Lockheed Martin, IBM, the Atlantic Council and the Euro-Atlantic association of Belgium.

The Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) General Ari Puheloinen presented concrete plans for Finland’s upcoming defence reform on September 1st.

General David Petraeus, father of the counterinsurgency strategy and in Iraq and Afghanistan, yesterday retired from the Army to become the director of the CIA. Admiral Mike Mullen, hosting the ceremony said Petraeus had set the “gold standard for command in wartime”.

Yesterday at the Supreme Military Council, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has worked to tighten government control of the military by choosing loyalist generals to replace the 4 commanders who resigned in protest over the detention of military officials facing conspiracy charges.

Italy’s Minister of Defence Ignazio La Russa has announced the withdrawal of an aircraft carrier from the NATO mission in Libya because of the pressing financial situation. "We have cut back costs in Libya, from a forecast 142 million euros in the first half of the year to less than 60 million euros for the second half,"

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has nominated Ismet Yilmaz as the new Defence Minister. Erdogan’s announcement came after his AKP party won national elections on June 12.

The Russian parliament will today review the extension of Russia's use of a military base in Armenia. The two countries have signed amendments to a 1995 bilateral treaty extending the use of an Armenian military base through 2044, located near Armenia’s border with Turkey.

German defence minister Thomas de Maizière presented the first concrete details of his plan to restructure the German armed forces.

The implementation of the new START agreement in the United States is facing difficulties after a vote by the US Congress’ House Armed Services Committee.

Whilst Egypt holds its first meetings with the opposition, the political beneficiaries of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution are petitioning for assistance from the international community. Calling for financial and state building aid, interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has appealed to Europe and the wider world to “protect the Tunisian experiment”. However, the EU has not significantly increased funding since Tunisia started on the road to democracy, despite a high-profile visit from Catherine Ashton.

Romania and Bulgaria may be offered separate accession dates to the Schengen free-travel area, according to the latest EU assessment. Whilst the ambition is still for a dual accession, Teodor Baconschi, Romania's Foreign Minister, has not ruled out Romania joining ahead of its neighbour, after a recent EU examination gave his country a “clean bill of health” to join.

The German government has ratified their portion of the A400M budget, confirming the order of 53 of the military transport aircraft at an estimated cost of €3.5 billion. However, financial constraints and a radical decrease in troop numbers after the recent military reform package has lowered demand, meaning that up to 13 of the aircraft may be sold on to third party buyers.

General Vincenzo Camporini has ended his tenure as the Italian Chief of Defence Staff, after three years of service. His replacement, General Biagio Abrate, will assume the role, having previously held positions as Head of the Defence Minister’s cabinet, Secretary General for Defence and Director General for Armaments. General Abrate has vowed to continue the force modernization initiatives of his predecessor.

Lithuania formally opened its new Energy Security Centre on the 14th of January, with the hope of gaining NATO accreditation by 2013. Neigbouring Estonia is already home to NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCD COE), and the new centre is tacitly aiming to gain a similar status within the Alliance. NATO has emphasised that energy security is a prominent concern for its members.

French Defence Ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire has confirmed that British and French defence ministers Liam Fox and Alain Juppé met on the 13th of January, to assess the progress of cooperative measures agreed between the two nations in November. The meeting was the first ministerial level collaboration since the treaty was signed, and centred on the practical operational questions that underpin the agreement, which includes a combined rapid reaction task force and the sharing of carrier resources.

Prominent euro-federalist organisation and European Parliament lobbyists, the Spinelli Group, have urged greater European integration to tackle the host of problems that beset the EU. Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and the co-president of the Parliament's Green group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, were amongst the voices lamenting the Unions sprawling sovereign debt crisis, lack of international voice and declining global stature.

General Vincenzo Camporini, the Italian Chief of the Defence Staff, has stated that he believes Europe is "technically ready" for a European army, whilst speaking at the Università per Stranieri. The General went on to clarify that "without political will we cannot make progress", during a discussion of the role of the Italian armed forces in peace-keeping operations.

Claude-France Arnould has been appointed as Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA). She is currently Deputy Director-General for the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD) in the External Action Service, and has extensive experience operating as part of EU external relations missions, the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy.

Speaking to NewEurope, SDA Co-President and long serving European diplomat Javier Solana has outlined his perspective of the recent Anglo-French treaty, and the opportunities it may create for a further drive towards pan-European defence cooperation in the wake of the financial crisis. Describing the agreement, that formalises the shared use of carrier and nuclear resources, Solana described how such treaties constitute “a step along the arduous but necessary path toward greater European security”.

The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Poland have taken the un-usual step of sending a trilateral letter to Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, urging her to strengthen the EU’s military capabilities. In the letter, dated the 6th of December, the Troika calls for Ashton to personally oversee a re-focus on Europe’s military ambitions, "with you, Madam High Representative, in the lead."

The European External Action Service (EEAS) has been formally launched, amidst ongoing budgetary disputes and continuing diplomatic revelations from the Wikileaks scandal. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, spoke with great enthusiasm about the service’s mission, at a ceremony noted for being surprisingly intimate, and closed to the press.

A panel of experts discussed the future of NATO and the transatlantic relationship. Focusing on the ongoing mission in Afghanistan and European relations with the US, the debate revolved around the need for reform, reinvigorated partnerships with regional powers and new models of cooperation in an increasingly unstable world.

Germany has formally announced an end to conscription into the Bundeswehr (German Army), as part of ongoing measures to increase power projection capabilities abroad whilst slashing budgets at home.

The worlds largest and most powerful military alliance has unveiled its New Strategic Concept, the document that formally outlines its strategic posture and role in the world. Despite controversy, the alliance has unanimously backed the draft.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has appointed the chair for the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European External Action Service (EEAS), 48-year-old Swedish diplomat, Olof Skoog. The posting is the first of seven major appointments expected ahead of the official launch of the service in December.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has continued to object to the specific wording and construction of NATO’s missile defence statement in the upcoming New Strategic Concept, due to be unveiled at the Lisbon Summit later this week.

NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has outlined his expectations for the forthcoming summit in Lisbon following meetings of Foreign and Defence Ministers. Claiming that all parties now have a clear mandate for reform as well as a clear idea of what reform will look like, he predicted that the summit will bring about “a substantially leaner Alliance Command Structure”, which is likely to mean streamlining the command to below 9000 personnel and reducing the number of NATO agencies from fourteen to only three.

Britain’s first Strategic Defence Review in over a decade, designed to dictate the form and function of the UK armed forces, has been over-shadowed by the need to deal with the constraints of the current financial situation and controversy over capability gaps in the new aircraft carrier program.

A panel of high-ranking UK officials discuss the upcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review. Against a backdrop of the financial crisis, panellists and participants discussed what to expect from this exercise after 9/11, two wars, and an ever changing European defence project.

During this innovative online experiment, leading think-tanks got together with the SDA to organise a 5-day brainstorm that was supported by NATO and the EU. The recommendations that emerged from this brainstorming event have been sent around the world.

In December 2009 the Security & Defence Agenda organised an international conference “NATO, the credit crunch and the new security environment” with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin and NATO. The discussions focused on the challenges facing NATO with the current economic crisis and the ever-changing global security paradigm. The SDA is pleased to present the principal conclusions of the conference in this report.

On Monday 7 December, the SDA hosted the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral James Stavridis. He outlined his views on the enduring value of the NATO alliance, offered an update on the way the mission in Afghanistan is developing and shared his thinking on the issues to be addressed from a military perspective in developing the new Strategic Concept.

In November 2009, high-level representatives from EU institutions, member state governments, NGOs, think-tanks, industry, and the media, gathered to discuss how the combination of civilian and military power is the key to the European Union’s “smart power”. The Security & Defence Agenda and the CEIS (European Strategic Intelligence Company) are pleased to present the main findings of the conference.

The SDA is pleased to present its latest Discussion Paper entitled “Re-launching NATO or just re-branding it?” At a decisive time for NATO, experts tackle critical questions over the Alliance’s new strategic consensus, including France’s return to NATO’s military command, the relationship between NATO and European security and defence policy (ESDP), and the Obama Administration’s own security and defence agenda.

Speaking to 180 ambassadors, policymakers, journalists and think-tankers at the SDA’s June 8th evening debate, new US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder outlined the Obama administration’s policy priorities for the alliance. He described the administration’s focus within the Alliance as being three-fold: achieving its objective in Afghanistan of disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al Qaeda, creating a more productive NATO-Russia relationship, and building a ‘new NATO for a new century’ which is capable of addressing a host of evolving transatlantic security challenges.

The role of international institutions is being challenged by the growing complexity and unpredictability of today’s strategic environment. This context stretches the transatlantic community’s capabilities and political cohesion, severely testing NATO’s credibility as a constructive global security player.

Although it’s been nearly a decade and a half since the Dayton Accord that brought peace to the Western Balkans, and ten years since NATO intervened over Kosovo, dangerous tensions persist. How great is the risk that old enmities and rivalries between Balkan newcomers to the EU and of NATO will spill over into wider policy areas? The argument for stabilising Balkan countries through integration into the EU and NATO remains strong, but with Euro-American relations still badly scarred by last year’s disagreements over the advisability of Georgian and Ukrainian NATO membership, how deep are the pitfalls? These questions are tackled by regional experts, academics and diplomats in the SDA's latest discussion paper, published thanks to the support of the Czech presidency of the EU.

On Monday 19th January 2009, the SDA kicked off the European political year with a stimulating discussion co-organised with sister think-tank Friends of Europe on Turkey’s European Future. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan put a powerful case for Turkey as future member of the European Union to a distinguished gathering of senior politicians, policy makers, managerial executives and journalists.

The SDA is pleased to present its latest Discussion Paper entitled “Re-launching NATO or just re-branding it?” At a decisive time for NATO, experts tackle critical questions over the Alliance’s new strategic consensus, including France’s return to NATO’s military command, the relationship between NATO and European security and defence policy (ESDP), and the Obama Administration’s own security and defence agenda.

Co-organised with the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), this evening event examined Nick Witney's recent report entitled 'Re-energising European Security and Defence Policy.' Describing his report as a rather unflattering account of the first 10 years of ESDP, Nick Witney explained that his criticism was directed mainly at the member states for failing to reform their militaries, rather than those in Brussels. The discussion also focused on transatlantic cooperation, effective spending strategies, and defence industry priorities.

The Security & Defence Agenda (SDA), the European Company for Strategic Intelligence (CEIS) and the Robert Schuman Foundation are proud to present this Security & Defence Days 2008 conference report “The Outlook for European Security”. It reflects the contributions of the 27 speakers and 280 participants at this two-day conference on EU security policy issues held on November 3 & 4 November 2008.

Some 120 experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the chief ESDP weaknesses to be tackled and debate what the impact will be of France's return to NATO. Though the debate almost got sidetracked by discussions of the skirmishes in Georgia, participants discussed whether the French Presidency's agenda was too ambitious, and many voices agreed that the Presidency's call for informal high-level meetings between NATO and EU leaders was a way forward.

The Security & Defence Agenda is pleased to present you the report of its 2008 International Conference "NATO in the Next Decade - The Outlook for European Security and Defence". The event was co-organised with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin and NATO.

What do you do when your two keenest admirers want to join your party, but your biggest and most difficult neighbour wants to keep them out? That is the dilemma which NATO's 26 political leaders are set to tackle in Bucharest this week, when they plan to discuss whether to offer Georgia and Ukraine a membership plan despite Russian opposition.

This study has been prepared by the Security & Defence Agenda for the French Ministry of Defence. It looks at the quality of debate amongst defence and security experts of the future course of the ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) in Brussels.

The European Union should move toward forming a common army, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a newspaper interview published on Friday.

The UN envoy seeking to settle the Kosovo conflict between Serbia and ethnic Albanians will tell the UN security council next week for the first time that independence is the only viable option for the province in the southern Balkans.

The event launched the debate on the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). Speakers discussed why the EDTIB is needed for ESDP to be effective, what industrial capacities will be needed in the future, the particular characteristics of the defence sector, and the importance of security of supply and industrial sustainability.

At the outset of his presentation of his new book “The Utility of Force: the Art of War in the Modern World”,General Sir Rupert Smith called for fundamental changes in the way modern warfare is approached. General Smith argued that adversaries were now “of and amongst the people”. It was no longer a case of defending territory, the goal was now to defend a way of life. Wars had to be conducted differently, with the desired outcome being defined ahead of any campaign – force alone would never be sufficient

Returning to address the NDA after 12 months, European Defence Agency Chief Executive Nick Witney concluded that something had to be done and done quickly. After admitting that time was not on his side, Witney was strongly supported by industry. Witney also shared the platform with representatives from the Commission, the member states and think tanks. No one doubted that the Agency and the Commission were taking positive steps but many speakers saw the need for greater political backing if a genuinely transparent and competitive European defence equipment market was to be created.

The questions of the day related to the new EU member states to the east: were NATO standards driving the transformation of their armed forces and how could their defence industrial base be revitalised? While there was general agreement that the need to be interoperable with NATO was acting as a catalyst, there was relatively little conformity when it came to the subject of the newcomers' industrial base.

"The security of European citizens is a must and the information received from space is indispensable" ESA's Gerhard Brauer made it clear that this Roundtable touched upon a very timely topic. The debate showed that there were many facets to space and its potential use in the realms of defence. But as SAIC's Robert Bell noted "There are many miles to go in this saga"

“Does Europe need a Black Sea security policy?” That was the question posed at the latest New Defence Agenda round table. A lively debate ensued but a precise answer was hard to find. Perhaps the most representative response was the ISS’s Oksana Antonenko’s “Yes… but!”, as it accurately reflected the lack of clarity in the region’s future.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns opened his remarks by confirming the US’s firm commitment to NATO, a commitment that came from “every level and every branch of the US government”. Ambassador Burns stated that a strong NATO alliance was the basis of American policy. Despite well-publicised differences, he noted that the Alliance had proved to be “a flexible and supple instrument”.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) made the first of a series of speeches leading up to the June 28-29 Istanbul Summit at the NDA Defending Global Security Conference at the Palais d'Egmont on May 17th. NATO will showcase its new plan for defending security by projecting stability. This will be done by strengthening relations with the Balkans, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in the Mediterranean; through military operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean Sea; and by modernising forces organisation and deployment for newer operations far from home.

Speaking at the latest New Defence Agenda (NDA) hosted press dinner, Nick Witney, Head of the European Defence Agency Establishment Team, provided a wide-ranging overview of the role the agency might be playing in the coming years. Looking at the reason why an agency was required, Witney said that Europe needed to raise its game on defence. The root problem was fragmentation - insufficient coordination of defence requirements across the EU and hence no unity of supply.

The New Defence Agenda June roundtable set out to assess future military threats and in particular, how Europe should react to them. The first session, focusing on European security, developed into a power struggle between the US, with its “act now” approach, and a Europe, that wanted to give more thought to the root causes of terrorism and, in parallel, to avoid total dependence on the US. The afternoon session looked at intelligence, where a majority of speakers felt confident about the efficiency of data gathering and processing and a vocal minority warned of complacency in that area.

At its latest roundtable, the New Defence Agenda discussed how defence costs could be shared across the EU. However, as the day progressed, there was a gradual change of topic with the focus moving firmly to security. Moderator Michel Berendt opened the morning session by noting that it was difficult to separate defence and security and later, Thales’ Martin Hill observed that industry was mainly talking security, as it was “chasing the money”. Several speakers emphasised the gap in expenditure between Europe and the US and there was universal acceptance that defence budgets were being squeezed.

The fifth session of the Defence-led R&D and Industrial Innovation working group looked at two strategic issues: the working of the proposed European Defence Agency and the future of warfare itself.