Entries for the 'Research and innovation' Category

Just weeks ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago and the G8 summit in Camp David, the Security and Defence Agenda presents an executive summary of the 2012 Security Jam, a unique global brainstorm. The document offers recommendations, from the world’s top military, NGOs, academia and public sector officials on issues such as smart defence, cyber-security, Afghanistan, crisis management and enhanced cooperation, of use in preparations for the summit.

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.

The German-French aircraft maker and defence contractor EADS is object of a strategy debate.

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

India and Saudi Arabia have decided to set up a joint committee on defence cooperation, as announced on the sidelines of the visit of a high-level delegation of Indian defence policy-makers, led by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, to Riyadh on Tuesday.

Fabrice Bregier, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus announced at a press conference yesterday that the company expects to finalise the agreement for an interim service contract for the A400M air-lifter in the coming weeks.

EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois has urged the British and French governments to open up plans for a proposed MALE Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) to include EADS and other European partners.

Israel’s national airline, El Al, and the Tel Aviv stock exchange saw their websites hacked yesterday just hours after they were reportedly threatened by a Saudi computer hacker, OxOmar.

The US Navy's shipbuilding programme has been given budget priority and will not be cut to meet the Pentagon’s $263 billion reduction in defence spending by 2013.

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.

NATO is currently collecting bids from international defence contractors to strengthen its cyber-defence capabilities.

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

UK defence contractor Raytheon announced the purchase of the cyber-security company Pikewerks Corporation.

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

On 9 November 2011, the Security & Defence Agenda launched its cyber-security initiative with a high-level debate on "Defining cyber-security".

China’s conference, "PLA in the Next Decade," held on Monday revealed plans to modernise and change the top leadership reshaping the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in 2012.  

China successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft Tuesday morning to carry out the country’s first space docking mission as part of ambitious plans for a manned space programme.

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.

Defence contractor Lockheed Martin UK will be awarded the contract for a ₤1bn (1.15bn Euro) upgrade of the British army’s Warrior armoured vehicle, as announced by Prime Minister David Cameron and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Despite recent defence budget cuts, the aerospace company Boeing is expecting high growth in the sector of cyber-security, and opened its new ‘Cyber Engagement Centre’ yesterday.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Commission will cooperate in the field of research.

Top US Army generals addressed the Army’s network strategic vision 2020 at a conference in Tampa on August 24.

According to a report released on August 10 from Moody’s Investor Service, a credit rating agency which performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities, the US debt ceiling act signed beginning of August puts significant pressure on defence companies.

The United States and Japan will continue to work together on missile defense, cyber and space initiatives, as well as expand information-sharing and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.

US defence contractor, Northrop Grumman’s senior executives said the US risks loosing out the market for unmanned aerial vehicles unless it reforms its export controls.

In a joint presentation at the Paris air show, BAE Systems and Dassault will present their new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) named Telemos, which is reported to cost €1 billion. Following the November 2010 Franco-British defence agreement, BAE Systems and Dassault announced last March the development of a new UAV.

Hakan Buskhe, Saab’s new chief executive, revealed his new strategy identifying further cost savings and new market orientations. The most visible international move for Saab has been through its Gripen fighter.

Speaking at the Paris air show, EADS chief executive Louis Gallois, outlined an exit strategy for the group’s French and German stakeholders that would bring an end to their role in Europe’s biggest aircraft maker.

In a row over the financing of different jet fighter engine programmes, the White House has threatened to veto the 2012 defence authorisation bill.

The British government has given the go-ahead for the early design phase of a new submarine type, which will deliver the UK's nuclear deterrent for the next 50 years.

European aerospace and defence group EADS announced a net loss of € 12m in the first quarter of 2011. The slight loss, due to foreign exchange factors, stands in sharp contrast to last year’s profit of more than € 100m.

Defence contractors Safran and Thales are currently negotiating an exchange of business assets, the French Les Echos newspaper reports in an interview with the head of the Direction Générale de l'Armement procurement office, Laurent Collet-Billon.

In an interview with the newspaper Haaretz, Israeli defence ministry director-general Major General Udi Shani announced that Israel is planning to invest around €700 bn ($1 bn) in the further development of its mobile rocket defence unit Iron Dome.

The Taiwanese navy has equipped its warships with a new missile type able to reach supersonic speed, authorities announced.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has certified the Airbus A400M’s turboprop engine. In an announcement on 6 May, the engine producer consortium Europrop International stated that the turboprop engine marks the first of its kind which has gained certification from the EASA.

Oboronprom, the Russian state-owned aerospace holding will appeal to investors from London and Moscow for investments in the helicopter sector.

Executive Chairman Antoine Bouvier of European missile maker MBDA said yesterday that the US pull-out from the Medium Extended Air Defence System (MEADS) programme “surprised and disappointed” him. The US administration seems not to have consulted with its European allies before making its decision to pull out of the programme.

NATO has announced a succession of development and implementation contracts for command and control equipment, which will allow for increased interoperability in European air commands. The deals, signed with Siemens, STM and ThalesRaytheonSystems, will also provide the initial operational capacity onto which the future missile defence architecture will be integrated.

A recent report by the RAND Corporation into the development of alternative energy sources for US military tactical weapon systems has concluded that problems of cost and efficiency make them “unlikely” to replace conventional fuel sources in the short term. Not only does the industrial outlook for the “production of alternative fuels that have military applications remain highly uncertain, especially over the next decade”, but there is no discernable military benefit from switching to alternative energy, despite US targets in this area.

US aviation giant and key defence prime Boeing have announced 1,100 lay-offs, primarily from its C-17 military cargo plane programme. The news comes after the budget cuts announced by the Pentagon earlier this month, which has reduced the demand for the military logistics aircraft. In related news, US avionics firm General Electronics have announced a joint aviation project with Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), despite the ongoing French scandal about industrial espionage in the Chinese sector.

DCNS, Frances premier naval defence company and one of Europe’s leading shipbuilders, have announced plans to enter the civilian energy market with “Flexblue”, a submerged “small power” nuclear reactor. Founded on the companies expertise in nuclear submarines, Flexblue will compete with Ariva’s third generation EPR reactor. This competition is likely to shape the future of European nuclear power, as the EU seeks to diversify its energy supplies in the face of fossil fuel depletion.

Europe’s flagship space programme and answer to the US dominated Global Positioning System (GPS) network, the Galileo project, has run into difficulties, with the announcement that it will need an additional €1.9 billion. The money, which will be used to raise the total number of satellites to 30, brings the bill to €5 billion. The news comes just days after the German satellite CEO Berry Smutny was fired, after Wikileaks reported he had called the project “doomed to failure”.

Louis Gallois, head of EADS, has issued a stark warning about the dangers of industrial espionage in China, as Renault prepares to clarify its allegation that intellectual property pertaining to state-of-the-art electric car systems has been leaked from its Chinese headquarters. Describing the threat as a "reality", Gallois was quick to point out that China was not the only industrial player conducting such espionage. Rather, the defence executive was using the Renault case to illustrate the need for "prudence" by all defence actors in the handling of sensitive data abroad.

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.

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."

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.

The future of the troubled Airbus A400M program was secured today, with Ministers from seven European Departments of Defence finalising a 3.5 billion euro bail-out. The agreement will see the production of 170 of the heavy transport aircraft.

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 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.

Ballistic missile threats have continued to grow during 2009. North Korea and Iran have both demonstrated short as well as intermediate range missiles, highlighting a potential threat to the United States and Europe.

Following the US Administration’s change of policy, what is the political outlook for the new US anti-missile system, in terms of both public opinion in the US and Europe and also in light of NATO's new Strategic Concept? Is there potential for a linked missile defence system for the US and Europe, and if so, what practical steps now need to be taken?

Headline-grabbing reports of piracy off the coast of Somalia may have prompted calls for more EU action but the interests of individual member states take precedence while the presence of national industrial champions means defence procurement remains fragmented in Europe. There have been piecemeal attempts to co-ordinate European efforts but none have so far added up to a comprehensive naval strategy.

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.

On November 13th, the SDA hosted a meeting of health and security experts to discuss how attention is being given to the disparity in risk analysis from both public and private sector actors engaged in pandemic preparedness throughout Europe.

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 event focused on current developments in the field of security and defence technology including transatlantic interoperability, funding and civ-mil cooperation.

On 14 April, the Security & Defence Agenda together with the Atlantic Council of the United States organised a transatlantic roundtable on the question of EU-US defence cooperation. With two panels and 14 high-level speakers both in Brussels and in Washington, the debate proved to be highly fruitful and a start for more transatlantic dialogue on this subject.

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.

This Discussion Paper in two parts brings together the views of high level experts from both sides of the Atlantic on NATO and ESDP relations. Contributors include David Leakey, Daniel Korski, Ambassador Stewart Eldon, and Alyson Bailes.

Romania will be hosting the next NATO Summit in Bucharest on 2-4 April this year. On 12 March the Security & Defence Agenda hosted Romania’s Ambassador to NATO Sorin Dumitru Ducaru, US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland and Belgium’s Ambassador to NATO Baron Frans van Daele.

Javier Solana, Head of the European Defence Agency, announced today that the EDA Steering Board has appointed Alexander Weis of Germany as the Agency’s Chief Executive from 1 October, succeeding Nick Witney, who has led the Agency since its creation in July 2004.

Although the latest SDA roundtable looked at two issues – Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) and Territorial Missile Defence – the debate that flowed around them soon became one and the same. Several speakers argued they could not be separated, while others said that a focus on the defence of populations (Territorial Missile Defence) would dilute the current TMD programme.

The EU has no plans to participate in a US anti-missile system but its member states are free to join, the bloc's foreign and security affairs chief said on Thursday (2 march) in an attempt to ease Russian concerns over the project.

Speaking at the latest SDA Dinner, EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Günter Verheugen placed cooperation at the top of his priority list. All of the major players had to work together if Europe was to develop a defence and security culture, and thereby guarantee the protection of the EU’s borders and critical infrastructure. At the same event, Dr. Thomas Diehl, CEO of the Diehl Stiftung, said industry was ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. To do this, however, he wanted a level-playing field for the EU’s defence and security companies, internally and externally. Regarding the internal level playing field, intra-EU export regulations and offsets were addressed.

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.

On June 13, 2006, European Defence Agency Chief Executive Nick Witney and Security & Defence Agenda Director Giles Merritt co-chaired an expert level seminar focussing on the nature and the drivers shaping the future military environment. The meeting came at a time as the EDA is undertaking detailed analysis, using a range of conceptual approaches, aimed at developing an initial long-term vision for European capability and capacity needs. Experts examined questions arising from consideration of European internal and global security in the coming decades. Major factors influencing future capability needs identified include continued EU geographical proximity to sources of instability, new military and technological challenges, greater EU Member State cooperation, global economic, demographic and political change, civil-military co-operation and a further shift towards crisis prevention and management.

At the latest SDA roundtable, there was general agreement that network centric capabilities would define the future of the defence industries on both sides of the Atlantic. However, the key word there was “future”. With such capabilities still in their infancy, it became apparent that – despite repeated requests from industry – a coordinated European approach did not exist. As SDA Director Giles Merritt noted, network centric capabilities seemed to be still in the Middle Ages and the route towards an Age of Enlightenment was not clearly lit

After a wide-ranging debate on European space policies, it was clear that overall requirements need to be defined and that space was receiving inadequate funding. It was anyone’s guess as to which came first. Almost all the panellists called for a clearer requirements definition to be produced on European level and by the member states. The ESA’s Gerhard Brauer wanted these to be harmonised, or even better, common.

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’s first roundtable of 2004 saw a packed house and three hours of intense debate surrounding the future of the European Defence Agency. Perhaps those who came expecting to hear revolutionary talk were disappointed, as although speakers reinforced the Agency’s importance, they emphasised that it is just one step along the way to a common European defence policy.