EDA News

On 22 August France joined the EU SatCom Market, becoming the 24th member of this EDA initiative launched in 2009 to provide contributing members with flexible commercial satellite communication (SatCom) solutions and more recently also Communication and Information System (CIS) services.

SatCom and CIS services are fundamental for Communication, Command and Control in any military or security related operation or mission. It enables Commanders to connect units in remote areas with HQs and capitals and to manage its mission and tasks. The EU SatCom Market project provides a flexible and cost-effective way of doing this, offering members a pay-per-use solution without imposing any binding financial commitments beyond services ordered. 

The contributing members have mandated the EDA through a ‘Joint Procurement Arrangement’ (JPA), to manage the project including the negotiation and management of Framework Contracts (FWCs) and service requests on their behalf.  So far contracts are signed with Airbus Defence & Space for SatCom  services and with Airbus Defence & Space and Thales Communications & Security for CIS services. 

The current 24 contributing members are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom, Republic of Serbia, the Athena Mechanism and the civilian missions EUCAP SAHEL Niger, EUCAP SAHEL Mali, EUAM Ukraine, EUCAP NESTOR and EUMM Georgia.
 

• EU SatCom Market project page
• EU SatCom Market factsheet

EDA has opened a call for papers from defence industry, academia and research institutes on the topic of Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS). The call for papers is focused on the RPAS Air Traffic Integration (ATI) in European airspace in the timeframe 2025-2030. This call is in response to the EDA’s revised approach towards establishing a structured dialogue and enhanced engagement with industry based on a set of priority actions, supported by the EDA Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2017. In the RPAS ATI context, and in line with the coordinated approach amongst the main European stakeholders, EDA has set up an Industry Exchange Platform on RPAS Air Traffic Integration.

The purpose of this 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.

The present call for papers aims at selecting the initial scope and membership of this Exchange Platform, which will hold its next meeting beginning of November 2017. Participation in this call for papers is open to companies of any size as well as academic, research institutes and associations or grouping of industrial suppliers. All proposals must conform to the eligibility criteria set out in this call for papers.  
 

• Download the call for papers here: Call for Papers Industry Exchange Platform on RPAS ATI
• Send your completed files to cps@eda.europa.eu with a copy to juanignacio.delvalle@eda.europa.eu 
• Deadline for submissions is the 29th of September 2017
   

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

The European Defence Agency’s 5th Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC), which ran over several weeks at Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Linton-on-Ouse (North Yorkshire, UK) and Arvidsjaur Airfield in Lapland (Sweden), was successfully completed in July.

The course began in May with a four-week classroom phase, which included simulator exercises at Linton-on-Ouse, followed by a three week deployment to Arvidsjaur Airfield in Lapland/Sweden where participants engaged in live flying exercises. Supported by personnel from No 1 Helikopter Skvadron in Lulea, the flying phase included a complex operational scenario employing: dissimilar formation flying, evasion training against a range of airborne threats, Electronic Warfare (EW) against both ground-based and airborne systems and a variety of additional tasks such as Helicopter Assault, Convoy Escort, Mutual Support and Vehicle Check Points.

The Staff Instructors came from Sweden, Austria and the UK with several supporting air assets: Hawks from 100 Sqn (UK), Gripens from 211 and 212 Sqn (Sweden) and Alca Jets from the Czech Air Force (212 Sqn). In addition, EW assets and personnel was provided by RAF Spadeadam.

In total, 10 Bronze, 6 Silver and 3 Gold Badges were awarded ensuring that the international cadre of Helicopter Tactics Instructors has once again been strengthened and grown for the 5th year in a row.

EDA’s Helicopter Tactics Instructors Course (HTIC) provides aircrew from participating nations with the skills and knowledge to teach advanced tactics to front-line aircrews from within their own national organisations and to assist in delivering the EDA’s Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), the Helicopter Tactics Course (HTC) and the future HTIC. Successful graduates from the course are awarded a qualification recognised by other Member States. HTIC development courses run over two years: in the first year, prospective instructors refine their own knowledge of advanced helicopter tactics to the maximum degree. In the second year, the emphasis shifts to develop the participants’ ability to teach those tactics. In turn, Instructors who have demonstrated above average abilities in delivering the course will be individually selected to come back a third time and teach alongside the existing instructional staff to finally achieve their Gold instructor qualification to become supervising instructors for future HTIC.
The three main elements of HTIC include Evasion Training, Electronic Warfare and advanced Operations. They are initially taught as stand-alone skills before being brought together in a complex, non-permissive environment in the framework of the planning and execution of Composite Air Operations (COMAO).

Several of EDA’s thematic ‘factsheets’ explaining in more detail some of the topics and domains in which the Agency is working have been updated recently, for instance the one on the Capability Development Plan (CDP), the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), Governmental Satellite Communications or the European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Course.

Click here to learn more about our latest updates and all other publications, brochures, factsheets, infographics and magazines!

Jüri Luik, the Estonian Defence Minister, was welcomed today (26 July) by EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq at the Agency’s premises for a fruitful exchange of views which focused on Estonia’s participation in EDA projects and programmes, cyber defence, the conclusions of the recent Long Term Review of the Agency as well as the implementation of the security and defence aspects of the EU Global Strategy.

In that context, topics such as the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), PESCO and the ongoing work on the setting up of the European Defence Fund were also discussed. Minister Luik was furthermore briefed by EDA management and staff about the state of play in EDA’s Cyber Programme as well as on the implementation of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR).

Minister Luik and Chief Executive Domecq also discussed the preparations for CYBRID 2017, a strategic level table-top cyber exercise which Estonia, as the current holder of the EU Presidency, and the EDA will co-organize on 7 September, in the margins of the informal Defence Ministers meeting in Tallinn. The scope of the exercise will be crisis response in the context of a major cyber campaign against the EU military structures in a hybrid warfare context.

For underwater applications, laser based technologies offer a complementary solution to existing sensors (sonar) for the detection and identification of underwater targets, particularly in shallow waters or in complex marine terrain such as archipelagos with numerous small islands, narrow sounds and inaccessible locations.

This is the main result of a study commissioned by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and conducted by a consortium consisting of FOI, the Swedish Defence research Agency, and ISL, the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis.

The study details the use of laser systems - both LIDAR-based (Light Detection and Ranging, a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges) and LADAR-based (LAser Detection And Ranging) - and indicates that their successful incorporation into existing detection and identification technologies for underwater targets in difficult operating conditions, such as those found in the Baltic Sea, can have a significant and positive impact on performance, particularly for rapid detection and identification.

Laser systems can deliver operational improvements as compared to sonar systems: airborne laser scanning, for instance, can be deployed extremely quickly in order to detect, locate and track underwater or floating objects. It is also possible for airborne laser scanning to identify the types of targets, provided that the target is large enough. Once a target is detected it is then possible to quickly deploy a surface or underwater vessel equipped with a Laser Gated Viewing (LGV) or Underwater Laser Scanning (ULS) system to positively identify confirm the target information.

The study concluded that laser based technologies are a viable and complementary solution for acoustic sensor systems, even in turbid waters or in waters with high organic content, such as shallow regions or archipelagos found in the Baltic Sea.

In order to analyse the performance of these technologies, three scenarios were defined: (1) Maritime mine identification, (2) Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and submarines detection and (3) Rapid environmental assessment (REA).

The study used modelling techniques along with systems knowledge to assess the performance of laser baser underwater systems. In order to assess the performance of the systems in the defined scenarios and tasks, the conditions and systems were simulated.

The task to detect and identify underwater targets has traditionally been undertaken by sonar based systems, particularly in open water conditions and in waters with significant depths. However, there are situations where sonar-based systems could be assisted by complementary technology in order to achieve improved performance. Examples of such operating conditions are relatively shallow waters where sonars ships cannot operate and complex marine terrain such as coastlines with archipelagos numerous small islands, narrow sounds and inaccessible locations.

The Baltic Sea, due to its high level of turbidity in coastal regions is one such area that is particularly challenging for the detection of underwater targets using laser based sensors. The occurrence of organic matter such as algae and the effect of sediment transport in the water column coupled with the seasonal optical attenuation contribute to difficulties in detecting underwater targets.

• CapTech Maritime (EDA project page)
• Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) - EDA project page
• MARSUR put to the test during live demonstration at OHQ EUNAVFOR MED SOPHIA (EDA webnews, May 2017)

The European Defence Agency (EDA) has developed a software tool to help the J1 (personnel) branch of EU headquarters manage the in-processing and out-processing of personnel at all phases of a CSDP operation.  This tool has recently been used at the annual Air Centric Personnel Recovery Operatives Course (APROC). 500 participants from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the UK as well as the US attended the course which included academic classes as well as flying sessions, involving fixed wing, rotary wing asset crews as well as Extraction Forces (EF) as the primary training audience.

First demonstrated in 2012, the Agency’s J1 FAS (J1 Functional Area Service) tool allows accurate and fast in-processing of personnel coming from different Member States. Staff can access the J1 FAS via a protected internet link before they deploy and provide the HQ with all the data they need to enable speedy integration within the HQ. J1 FAS also allows important management information to be synthesised from the database. After a trial phase in 2016, the tool has been used at the Operation Headquarters of EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia. The J1 FAS is also currently under evaluation in an Operational Field Trial within the EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM Mali).

The J1 FAS was used during the Air Centric Personnel Recovery Operative Course (APROC) organised by the European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC) to support the two-day in-processing of the 500 participants. The J1 FAS reduced dramatically queues and waiting time for the participants arrived at the course venue in large groups. The tool demonstrated its ability to support effectively large scale events like the APROC.

The European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC) organises the Air Centric Personnel Recovery Operatives Course (APROC) on an annual basis. The objective of the Course is to educate and train personnel on the planning and conduction of complex missions based on Personnel Recovery (PR) scenarios in which various types of means and various nations are involved. More experienced pilots are trained in the role of Rescue Mission Commander (RMC), allowing them to learn to lead the planning and the execution of complex PR missions, to provide briefings and debriefings regarding the missions to the benefit of the task forces employed and the commanders. Finally, among other objectives, the Course also aims at educating the Extraction Forces to the application of the standards envisaged for the recovery of the Isolated Personnel (ISOP) and to provide the medical assistance required. 

• J1 FAS factsheet
• Support to operations

In line with defence R&T priorities identified within its CapTechs, the European Defence Agency has successfully supported a Polish small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) to access EU funding from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for a 2 million euro project dealing with tropospheric radio-wave propagation to extend the range of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) operations. (picture: Airbus DS)

Following an EDA procedure inviting Member States’ Ministries of Defence to identify and propose R&T projects, which EDA could support in view of receiving ESIF funding, the Polish Ministry of Defence submitted this project to EDA. The project holder, an SME, has been awarded the full amount it had applied for, namely two-third of the total project cost.

This is already the fifth EDA-supported R&T project funded by ESIF.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed the fact that all five EDA-supported R&T projects funded by ESIF are led by SMEs, in line with the European Council’s call to all relevant actors to work on fostering investments in defence supply-chains, with a particular focus on SMEs.

Within this scope, EDA has recently:

• launched a free-of-charge assistance process focusing on access to the second main fund among ESIF, the European Social Fund (ESF), in support of key skills and competencies for defence (KSC). Under this procedure [“ESF4KSC”], MoDs may forward to EDA (by the 18th of September 2017) KSC-related projects collected nationally from stakeholders;
• published an EDA’s “ESIF web-platform” to provide any potential defence-related stakeholder (e.g. MoDs, industry, research-and-technology organisations, academia, clusters) with an interactive mapping on ‘sources’ of regional, national and transnational calls for proposals under Structural Funds as well as respective contact details of ESIF managing authorities in charge for funding allocation.

With EDA’s support, defence-related technology domains benefitting from ESIF so far include energy, naval, robotics, components and modules, radio-frequency sensors, aerial, advanced materials and structures, communication Information Systems. Therefore, EDA’s work has proved that ESIF is a relevant opportunity for both defence industry and RTOs, additionally to the budget earmarked for defence.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq stated: “EDA will continue to act as a facilitator to exploit wider EU policies for the benefit of defence and, based on Member States’ prioritisation, to recommend the allocation of EU funding to projects and programmes”.

• EDA’s summary table on EU funding opportunities for defence-related stakeholders
• EDA’s “ESIF web-platform”
• EDA’s “COSME web-platform”
• EDA’s work in support of Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises
  
  

EDA's CapTech Materials & Structures recently organised a workshop on “Smart textiles in defence” at AITIIP Technological Centre in Zaragoza (Spain). It gathered 27 experts from various European Ministries of Defence, industry, SMEs and academia related to this technology domain. The objectives were to raise awareness and better understand the potential of smart textiles and discuss the impact of these technologies on future defence capabilities. 

Today, efforts in this field are focused on the development of standards to define terms, definitions, technical specifications and requirements for smart textiles. Future trends include multi-functionalities to make the soldier lighter, safer, and smarter. Specifically the main trends include the monitoring of the well-being, health status and protection of the soldier, including adaptive camouflage and reducing the weight. Given the interest of the smart textiles for different applications, highlighted in the Materials Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), this workshop sought to gather experts in related fields to discuss future research directions within Europe, when applying this kind of materials to defence systems.

The workshop brought forward multiple success stories of smart textiles used in different defence applications with functions such as: thermal control, moisture control, UV protection, functional bactericidal and self-cleaning. Ongoing activities and projects were presented by EDA and organizations from Member States showing the increasing interest and potential of smart textiles for enhancing soldier systems. Among the most targeted research areas were shown to be: durability, thermal comfort,  adaptive camouflage, measurement and communication sensors, energy harvesting and recovery, modelling and simulation tools and new materials such as graphene or bio-composites. 

The discussion also addressed manufacturing and commercialization of smart textiles, recognizing the growing market and opportunities stemming from the technological developments taking place in the civilian sector. Furthermore, the certification and standardization aspects were highlighted with particular attention paid to ensuring product quality and development of legislation.  

The main outcome of the workshop was the identification of the areas for cooperation at EU level, especially in terms of identifying and testing the available systems, and several proposals were put forward for in-depth study and future activities. Another conclusion of the workshop included the need of shaping future priorities and defining stages toward the goal of achieving multifunction soldier uniforms. 

The workshop was followed by the 37th meeting of the CapTech Materials & Structures held in the research centre ITAInnova on 31 May and 1 June. The meeting focused on the review of the CapTech’s current activities and on the discussion about future actions and upcoming opportunities. The efforts of the CapTech were further acknowledged with the occasion of the visit to the EDA Additive Manufacturing facility deployed in the Zaragoza Airbase. The successful deployment of a 3D-printing lab for the duration of EAATTC 17-3 represents the main focus of EDA’s ground-breaking project, “Additive Manufacturing Feasibility Study & Technology Demonstration”. The deployment underscored the strong interest and potential of AM technologies across all military branches (pilots, maintenance, technicians and logistic support), who were keen to learn how 3D-printing could benefit their area of expertise. The success of this showcasing has significantly contributed to raising awareness on the operational application of these technologies and on the potential synergistic effects of undertaking European defence R&T activities. 

The workshop and the Materials CapTech meeting was co-organized by EDA’s CapTechs Materials & Structures, Land Systems and CBRN & Human Factors, and the Research and Technology Organizations CITEVE, AITEX, ITAInnova and the Spanish MoD.

• For further information, please contact CapTech.Materials@eda.europa.eu 
• CapTech Materials & Structures
• CapTech Ground Systems
• CapTech CBRN and Human Factors
• EDA Research & Technology
• European Defence Agency Role in Research & Technology - Towards Enhanced European Future Military Capabilities
• Combat Equipment for Dismounted Soldier Feasibility Study Programme (CEDS FSP)
• Future Soldier Systems
• CBRN Joint Investment Programme
• EDA Web news on Survey: EDA consultation to identify impact of 3D-printing technologies in defence
• EDA web news on AM Exhibition: Exploring Additive Manufacturing impact in Defence capabilities, 12 September 2017
• EDA Web News on the AM Deployment: Successful test flight for EDA 3D-printing lab during deployment at EAATTC 17-3

The European Defence Agency (EDA) recently published a contract notice on its Contractor Support to Operations (CSO) platform for Role 2 Medical Support Services to European Union Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM-S).

Procuring specific services such as Role 2 Medical Support or customised assets can be challenging especially on short notice. EDA assists EU military operations in fulfilling their needs for complex goods or services (e.g. armoured vehicles, air to ground surveillance, medical services ) through the CSO platform. A powerful tool for interaction, the CSO platform helps to connect economic operators and procurement authorities. Economic operators are invited to subscribe to the platform database to receive regular updates on business opportunities from EU-led operations or other governmental and institutional authorities.

EUTM-S is currently seeking for Role 2 medical care services to cover the region of Mogadishu. Medical care support is categorised into four roles that identify the functions and the capabilities of a medical unit or element. Most of the care capabilities of each role are subordinates to the next higher role. In general a Role 2  as medical care support is characterised by its ability to perform surgical interventions, including damage control  surgery and  surgical  procedures  for  emergency  surgical  cases,  to  deliver  life,  limb  and  function  saving  medical  treatment and to perform reception / triage of casualties.

The full contract notice, as well as another contract notice from EUFOR Althea HQ in Bosnia and Herzegovina for food, water and catering supply, can be found on the CSO Platform which constitutes the one-stop-shop for EDA contractor support to operations:

http://cso.eda.europa.eu/Pages/BusinessOpportunities.aspx.

Since the creation of the European Defence Agency in 2004, support to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and to EU operations has been part of EDA's core mission. Procurement of contracted solutions has become increasingly relevant for EU military operations not only to fill capability gaps in the force generation process, but also as a general planned support for ongoing operations.

Several activities are ongoing in support of CSDP military and civilian operations or missions as well as EU Battlegroups at the request of Member States, such as  the provision of satellite communication, the use of EDA-developed projects, and the testing of EDA-funded demonstrators, and soon in-theatre aeromedical evacuation services.

Copyright picture: Bundeswehr/Jane Schmidt

• Support to operations project page
• News: "EDA signs cooperation arrangement with Athena" (2 March 2015)
• CSO platform (password required)

Order to be placed by NSPA through OCCAR under EDA initiative

Germany and Norway officially joined the European/NATO program to acquire Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft along with Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The two nations committed to participating in the project through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at NATO HQ in Brussels today.

Known as the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) the programme was initiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2012. Europe’s organization for the management of cooperative armament programmes - OCCAR - manages the MMF acquisition phase as Contract Executing Agent on behalf of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Following the acquisition phase, NSPA will be responsible for the complete life-cycle management of the fleet.

The Programme is funded by the four nations who will have the exclusive right to use these NATO–owned aircraft which will operate in a pooling arrangement. The aircraft will be configured for inflight refuelling, the transport of passengers and cargo, and medical evacuation flights. The first two aircraft have already been ordered to be delivered from Airbus Defence and Space’s tanker conversion line at Getafe near Madrid in 2020. Five additional aircraft will now be ordered, and that order will include options for up to four further aircraft.

NSPA GM, Peter Dohmen said “As NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency, we are proud to be a key enabler of this critical project to help European nations meet their air transport and refuelling requirements. The successful cooperation in this project - bringing together all our capabilities - bodes extremely well for further future NATO / EU collaboration.”

OCCAR Director, Arturo Alfonso-Meiriño said: “The MMF programme has broken new ground in bringing together the combined capabilities of the EDA, NSPA and OCCAR as one team, with each organisation working within its particular sphere of expertise. I very much welcome that this important initiative has now attracted additional partners to join, and it still includes options for the participation of even more countries.”

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq said: “The MMF is a prime example of European defence cooperation which shows that once a capability shortfall has been jointly identified, European nations can pull together, work on a common project aimed at filling the gap, and eventually deliver. It’s Pooling & Sharing at its best”.

Airbus Defence and Space Head of Military Aircraft Fernando Alonso said: “The A330 MRTT has established itself firmly as the world’s premier tanker/transport aircraft. It is extremely satisfying to now see it adopted as the core asset of one of Europe’s most important cooperative defence programmes. We hope that this collaborative approach will serve as a model for future joint procurements.”

• Airbus Defence and Space:
  Kieran Daly +34 689 669 661 kieran.daly@airbus.com
• European Defence Agency:
  Helmut Brüls +32 47 35 63 964  helmut.bruls@eda.europa.eu
• OCCAR:
  Falko Fanslau +49 22 85 50 21 16 falko.fanslau@occar.int
• NATO Support and Procurement Agency:
  Karen Tissot Van Patot +352 30 63 65 57 karen.tissotvanpatot@nspa.nato.int

For the last two weeks, Beja Airbase in Portugal has hosted the European Air Transport Training 2017 (EATT17), the annual tactical airlift training event, which has become an important feature of the Portuguese and several other European air force’s annual airlift training programmes. Some 600 military personnel from seven Member States (Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom), the European Air Transport Command (EATC) as well as observers from Brazil and Hungary participated in this sixth edition of EATT.

The tragic loss of life in northern Portugal as a result of wildfires was a sombre backdrop to this year’s training. Understandably, a large element of the exercise’s firefighting and heavy lift equipment was redeployed to the rescue effort at very short notice. Nevertheless, the training continued with eight aircraft (see below) and ten aircrews from seven nations and over 600 supporting personnel in the form of ground engineers, paratroopers, logistic teams and normal operational support personnel drawn from the air force, army and navies of the contribution nations, underlining the inherently joint nature of contemporary operations and training.

As in previous years, the focus of the second week has been on advanced tactical operations with the crews dropping tactical loads and paratroopers within an increasingly complex intelligence driven scenario.  The main effort is to operate the aircraft in packages of up to six  to form the mainstream of a Composite Air Operation (COMAO) mission with integrated fighter aircraft as protection.  The training has offered a very sharp reality check through the addition of surface-to-air threat emulators that illuminate the aircraft, testing their tactical ability and drawing lessons on the challenges of operating  in contested air environments.  The German A400M was a welcome new addition to this year’s event and was put through its paces by the exercise staff who are drawn from the EATC, the newly formed European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC), EDA and the multi-national Core Planning team from the contributing Member States.  The training also enjoyed a visit from observers from the Brazilian Air Force and a multi-disciplinary team from Hungary who is planning to run a future EATT from Papa airbase.  Despite the restrictions on airspace and equipment resulting from the operations to the north to counter the wildfires, the participating crews are unanimous in the need to run more multi-national events to improve interoperability and to share best practice in this critical operational domain.

EATT17 (as of 2018 to be renamed European Tactical Airlift Project Training, ETAP-T) is also an important milestone for EDA in that it marks the first practical handover of a training activity from the Agency to the ETAC following the formal transfer of responsibility that occurred on 8th June 2017 in Zaragoza.  HRVP Mogherini and the Spanish Defence Minister Mme de Cospedal opened the ETAC in a joint ceremony, which also included the symbolic handover of the ETAC banner from EDA’s Chief Executive Jorge Domecq to the newly appointed ETAC commander. EDA will continue to support the 20-nation European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) Programme in other areas of airlift such as harmonisation of diplomatic clearances and the development of user groups for specific aircraft operators. 

Assets: Germany (C-160 Transall and A400M Atlas), France (C-130H Hercules), the Netherlands (C-130H Hercules), Poland (C295), Portugal (C-130H Hercules), Romania (C-27J), and United Kingdom (C-130J Hercules). 

• Pictures of the event are available here.
• A video summary is available on YouTube.
• Project page European Air Transport Fleet (EATF)

The European Commission (DG GROW) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) today jointly organised a successful Infoday and Brokerage event to inform interested parties on the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) and the details of the calls for proposals published on 7 June.  The event was attended by more than 300 participants representing a wide variety of companies (including SMEs), research centres, universities, Ministries of Defence, European institutions, regional/local authorities and defence related organisations.

The gathering was opened by keynote speeches held by Philippe Brunet (Director for Space policy and Research, Copernicus and Defence within the European Commission’s Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG GROW) and Jorge Domecq, the European Defence Agency Chief Executive. 

In his speech, Mr Domecq said that “the tremendous interest in the Preparatory Action from industry across the continent is a testimony to the role industry and research organisations can and must play in delivering present and future European defence capabilities”. He added: “With this Preparatory Action, the Commission, supported by EDA, is making an important contribution to European defence that must provide European added value, focus on capability priorities at the European level and in areas where Member States can no longer afford to go alone, benefit all Member States, serve agreed capability priorities and provide incentives for more cooperation at European level, both among governments and industry”.

Commission Director Philippe Brunet said that “the Preparatory Action is an incentive for Member States and research actors to do better and more together” in view of strengthening the industrial and technological base of Europe’s defence industry. 

Participants received detailed presentations and participated in interactive information sessions on the first three PADR calls for proposals issued in June. The Brokerage event which took place in the afternoon provide participants with plenty of opportunities for networking with partners interested in forming consortia.

The PADR has the objective to test the added-value of the EU budget supporting defence research, in view of a potential EU programme in the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework. The PADR is being implemented by the EDA through a Delegation Agreement signed on 31 May between the EDA and the Commission.

• Speech (full text) of Jorge Domecq
• Infoday Presentations & Conclusions
• PADR factsheet
• PADR project page
• PADR calls for proposals 

Thirty-five experts from 17 Member States as well as representatives from the EU Military Committee, the EU Military Staff, the EU Commission and NATO Allied Command Transformation participate in the European Defence Agency’s Table Top Exercise (TTX) on long term capability trends, starting today. Results of the exercise will feed into the revised Capability Development Plan (CDP) which will be presented to Ministers of Defence in the first semester of 2018.

The three day long exercise is part of the CDP revision and addresses the review of the current Long Term Trend Capability Assessment, with a perspective on 2035 and beyond. It comprises in-depth analysis and assessment of all military tasks, identifying the evolution of key military requirements, the key trends towards 2035 and beyond, the future importance of the different tasks, as well as related risks and challenges.

“Similar to previous table top exercises, we evaluate capability trends by using threat scenarios. Only this time, the elaboration of these scenarios was more complex as we are looking at trends in 2035 and beyond. We thus worked closely together with military R&T experts to elaborate scenarios including technology available in about 20 years. The aim is to derive future military capability development trends in a European setting”, says Roland Van Reybroeck, Cooperation Planning & Support Director at EDA.

The TTX will address the full scope of military tasks in view of answering the question “which capabilities will Member States’ armed forces need in 2035 and beyond?” An important aspect thereby is to analyse in detail the capability implications in different scenarios.

“If we take for example global warming and the melting of ice caps, apart from ecological and economic consequences, the military would need to look at its long term capability needs to face new geopolitical scenarios potentially resulting from climate change. In this context, military long term capability planners would for example examine related requirements for the next generation of frigates”, explains Lars-Ove Roos, Project Officer at EDA.

The key findings from this exercise, will underpin the long term dimension to the Capability Development Plan. The post-TTX analysis and assessment is to be completed by December 2017. 

• Factsheet Capability Development Plan
• Project page Capability Development Plan

TACTICS (Tactical Service Oriented Architecture), an R&T project launched in 2014 by Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Poland through the European Defence Agency (EDA) and carried out by a consortium of 9 contracting partners and 2 sub-contractors* with the aim to define a Tactical Service Infrastructure (TSI) enabling military tactical radio networks to participate to Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), was brought to a successful closure at a final meeting of the TACTICS working group at the EDA premises on the 8 of June. 

Military systems, communications and information infrastructures are increasingly becoming service-oriented, both on a national level and in the context of international collaboration. However, while research on Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) in classical business environments has produced satisfactory and well-established solutions, this is not the case for mobile/tactical environments in which operators have to deal with much more complex challenges (such as the limitations of disruptive and throughput-constrained networks, aggravated by limited end user devices) for which existing SOA technologies are not an answer. 

EDA’s TACTICS project was thus launched in February 2014 to: propose measures to mitigate the constraints of military tactical environments so that they can also benefit from SOA; and to formally describe a Tactical Service Infrastructure (TSI) in a reference architecture following the NATO Architecture Framework (NAF).

At the beginning of the project, military constraints, operational requirements and expected SOA benefits were collected and defined with the help of national military experts. On this basis, a reference architecture for a Tactical Service Infrastructure (TSI) was designed in such a way that it can cope with the constraints. 

By performing a number of technology studies in dedicated fields of research, it was ensured that the TSI reference architecture encompasses up-to-date and also novel research results reaching from security policy management, traffic engineering, quality of service provision and interoperability mechanisms for semantic service registries. 

The resulting TSI reference architecture describes how a future SOA-based middleware could be established and what mechanisms the middleware can take advantage of, to support user-facing services’ realisation in a tactical constrained environment.
Multinational live demonstration

The findings were shown in a multinational live demonstration. The demonstration, carried out on the 11/12 April 2017 in Ditzingen (Germany), incorporated national tactical radios (UHF and VHF) and an emulated long-range satellite connection. Based on this, the Consortium presented selected SOA benefits and technical innovations in the researched areas using a proof-of-concept implementation of the TSI and exemplary user-facing services. 

*The consortium is composed of the following companies/institutions: Thales Deutschland (Consortium Coordinator), Fraunhofer FKIE, Germany (Technical Coordinator), Patria Aviation Oy (Finland), Thales Communications & Security (France), Leonardo (Italy), Thales Starmille (Italy), University of L’Aquila (Italy), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), ITTI (Poland), Military Communication Institute (Poland), Military University of Technology (Poland).

• Official project’s web site 

Military forces and airborne assets participating in EU-led military operations are highly likely to encounter adversaries armed with Surface-to-Air Fire (SAFIRE) weapons to interfere with, and potentially jeopardise, air operations. A recent EDA study developed a strategy on Counter SAFIRE (C-SAFIRE) with the aim to maximise air assets’ availability, survivability and freedom of manoeuvre in theatre of operations. 

Counter- Surface-to-Air Fire (C-SAFIRE) capability is required on EU-led military operations in order to prevent the threat or use of SAFIRE being a risk to mission success, excessively constraining air assets’ (fixed wing and rotary) freedom of action, or imposing avoidable costs or casualties. The C-SAFIRE study supports an EU approach to facilitate Member States’ participation in EU-led military operations under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), while supporting mission effectiveness and operational risk management for participating air assets. The study states the  C-SAFIRE capabilities required for participation in EU-led military operations and addresses how air platforms with different capabilities can be employed.

Through the study, a technical, organisational and procedural guide on C-SAFIRE in EU led military operations was produced. The study also presented a common understanding of measures to be taken at national level to facilitate the development of an integrated approach in the assessment and development of Member States’ C-SAFIRE capabilities, training included. 

The project was funded by the EDA and carried out by a contractor. The study design and implementation was coordinated by the Project Team C-SAFIRE,  that bring together experts from the Member States. 

Copyright picture: Airbus Defence & Space

• Public Executive Summary - Study to Inform Strategy on Counter-Surface-to-Air Fire (C-SAFIRE) in EU-Led Military Operations

As a follow-up to the Commission’s European Defence Action Plan acknowledging that European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) may be used by Member States in the defence sector, the European Defence Agency publishes the “EDA’s ESIF web-platform” to provide any potential defence-related stakeholder (including MoDs, industry, research-and-technology organisations, academia, clusters) both with:

• an interactive analytical mapping on ‘sources’ of regional, national, and transnational calls for proposals under Structural Funds and
• respective contact details of the hundreds ESIF managing authorities ultimately in charge for funding allocation.

For the financial framework running till 2020, ESIF are made up of 5 specific funds totaling more than 450 billion euros, matched nationally by additional 180 billion euros. In the defence sector, ESIF may co-fund productive investment projects, and support the modernisation of the defence supply chains.

EDA’s work supporting access to ESIF is focused on the two main funds (together commonly referred as “Structural Funds”):

• the European Regional and Development Fund (ERDF) and its “Interreg” share, which can support - inter alia - defence activities and dual-use activities in research and innovation at regional, national and transnational/cooperative level; 
• the European Social Fund (ESF), which can support the development and enhancement of key skills and competencies (KSC) for defence.

With regard to the ERDF, EDA has been technically assisting successfully funded pilot R&T project applications. Concerning ESF for KSC, an EDA’s procedure aimed at supporting free-of-charge the application to the ESF for selected pilot KSC-related projects  is currently underway through Ministries of Defence.

The ESIF web-platform complements the successful  EDA’s “COSME web-platform” launched one year ago to facilitate access to finance, grants and free-of-charge advisory services for defence-related SMEs and clusters. For further details: esif@eda.europa.eu or cosme@eda.europa.eu 

• The EDA’s ESIF platform is available at www.eda.europa.eu/esif
• The EDA’s “COSME platform” is available at www.eda.europa.eu/cosme.
• An overview of main EU funding programmes is available at www.eda.europa/eufunding
• EDA’s work on Access to EU funding.  

Today marks the start of the sixth European Air Transport Training (EATT2017). Hosted by Portugal, several hundred military personnel from Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom will train from June 19 to 30 at Air Base 11 (AB11) in Beja. This multinational exercise was initiated within the framework of the European Air Transport Fleet Programme of the European Defence Agency (EDA) and will be executed by the newly founded European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC) and supported by the European Air Transport Command (EATC). 

The overall objective of this exercise is to achieve a high level of interoperability among air transport capable EDA Member States by exposing their crews to a complex operational environment, in which to practice their procedures and tactics and to gain  the necessary qualifications to perform tactical operations in current theatres of conflict and humanitarian relief.

EATT2017 is set up to give the participating aircrews a variety of training, from basic tactical elements like practicing assault landings and air drop procedures to complex multi-ship combat mission profiles. The planning and execution is assisted by mentors, ensuring proper application of the common tactical guidelines. In parallel, training of Combined Air Terminal Operation (CATO) personnel is taking place on the ground, dealing with cargo preparation, loading of aircraft, and administrative procedures. 

Around 100 paratroopers from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal will be deployed daily by mission aircraft. From the multi-organisational staff to the multi-national contingents, EATT2017 focuses on the overarching goal of increasing the interoperability of European airlift assets through training based on agreed common procedures. With already over 100 crews having received European tactical airlift training and over 2,000 hours flown in the past five years, EATT2017 follows in this spirit, and is a tangible example of improving Europe’s military airlift provision for a strong European defence.

Assets and staff from seven Member States participate in EATT2017: Germany (C-160 Transall and A400M Atlas), France (C-130H Hercules), the Netherlands (C-130H Hercules), Poland (C295), Portugal (C-130H Hercules), Romania (C-27J), and United Kingdom (C-130J Hercules). 

• EATF project page
• EATT2017 Factsheet

On June 15th the EDA Steering Board accepted, by written procedure, the Outline Description for the Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) Pooling and Sharing demonstration project (GSC demo). Under the leadership of Spain, the project brings together Austria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Greece, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Norway, which has signed an Administrative Arrangement with the Agency, is also participating in the project. The next step will be the establishment of a Project Arrangement.

The project originates from an EDA Steering Board decision of November 2013 which tasked EDA to pursue its work on GOVSATCOM coordination with Member States, the European Commission and the European Space Agency in order to propose a comprehensive programme for Member States who wish to participate. Subsequently, the task to prepare the next generation of GOVSATCOM was confirmed by the European Council in December 2013 and work on GOVSATCOM has also started at the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission.

The main objective of the project is to meet the GOVSATCOM demands of Member States and European CSDP actors through pooled capabilities (bandwidth/power and/or services) provided by contributing Member States. This governmental pooled capability is set up to provide SATCOM resources that cannot be obtained on the commercial market  with a sufficient level of guaranteed access and security. 

The Steering Board acceptance marks the end of the GOVSATCOM preparation phase where EDA employed a sequential approach in developing this project, analysing since 2014 satellite communication needs for European actors involved in the conduct of national or CSDP operations and detailing potential solutions to address the capability development.  

The work in EDA has been supported by a feasibility study since mid-2015. This study identified the GOVSATCOM Information Exchange Requirements and provided a forecast tool assessing both defense satellite connectivity requirements in support of European CSDP activities and national operations of EU Member States, as well as civil government requirements for European government stakeholders. The focus was on communications requiring guarantee of access, security and autonomy that go beyond standard commercial satellite solutions, without requiring the highest level of security that only military satellite systems can provide. 
The next step then was to carry out a detailed assessment of existing and planned commercial and governmental satellite systems and their suitability to meet the aforementioned requirements.

The study relied on a variety of sources and analytical processes, including the use of an external study conducted for the European Commission on civil government requirements and studies conducted for ESA to define new satellite systems to fill gaps identified in the assessment part of the EDA GOVSATCOM feasibility study.
In parallel with the study, EDA’s SATCOM project team developed the GOVSATCOM Common Staff Requirements and an associated Business Case. Both documents have been approved by the Steering Board in March 2017. 

The Business Case closely follows a recommendation of the study for EDA to explore a Pooling and Sharing demonstration as part of the European GOVSATCOM initiative. The project will be put in place progressively with due consideration given to the impact it might have on suppliers, users and alternative frameworks. The Pooling and Sharing demonstration will require close cooperation, not only  between the Member States which contribute to the SATCOM capability pool and those who use it but also with the other GOVSATCOM activities pursued in ESA and the Commission.

The Ad-Hoc Working Group of the GSC demo project, consisting of all 14 Member States and Norway, will now establish the Project Arrangement detailing the legal conditions for the project.
 

Reliable, stable and secure communications are crucial in any CSDP mission or operation. Yet, terrestrial network infrastructures are not available everywhere, for instance in areas hit by natural disasters, at sea, in the air or in hostile zones. Satellite communications (SATCOM) can be the solution: rapidly deployable, flexible and distance insensitive, they offer communication links where terrestrial networks are damaged, overloaded or non-existent.

However, access to SATCOM cannot be taken for granted at any time, especially not when government users require them at short notice and without pre-arranged agreements. In situations of high demand, competition with other users of commercial SATCOM capacities creates a risk of non-availability and high costs. Against this backdrop, EU leaders decided in 2013 that there was a need for a new solution combining the advantages of commercial and military satellite systems in order to address both civil and military needs through European cooperation. The European Defence Agency, in collaboration with the European Commission and the European Space Agency, is now preparing the next generation of GOVSATCOM. 

GOVSATCOM will be a capability that is placed in between the commercial satellite communication market and the highly protected military satellite communication capability.

• EDA factsheet GOVSATCOM
• EDA project page GOVSATCOM
• Video: GOVSATCOM - SATCOM for security and defence 

The fourth in a series of five meetings of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) was held in Lisbon on 16 – 18 May 2017. 

The conference was opened by General Henrique Castanheira Macedo – Deputy Director General from the Portuguese Ministry of Defence, Mrs Claudia Canaveri – Deputy Head of Energy Efficiency at DG Energy, and Mr Rini Goos – Deputy Chief Executive at the European Defence Agency. It was closed by Mr Denis Roger – Director European Synergies and Innovation at the European Defence Agency. 

“Whatever we do on international defence cooperation and collaboration, it must ultimately be about maintaining our strategic defence objectives, and developing and delivering enhanced military capability, increasing readiness and effectiveness,” EDA Deputy Chief Executive Rini Goos said during his opening address. “We need to ensure that our infrastructure – the backbone of the military – is future-proofed and efficient in its operation so that we can support ultimately, the front line. This is why the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector is so important – it provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to work together to make a real change in the provision of defence capability and one which can have an enduring legacy, setting a benchmark for the rest of the defence sector.”

Maintaining the momentum of the first, second and third events held in Brussels, Dublin, and Rome in 2016, the third conference was attended by around 100 experts from government administrations representing the majority of EDA Member States, as well as industry, academia, NATO representatives and the European Commission.

In closing the conference, Director European Synergies and Innovation Denis Roger set out, “At this event, it has been useful to take stock of what we have learnt so far to ensure that we keep a focus on defence outputs.  We must also not lose sight of where the challenges and opportunities lie; and to start to develop thoughts on how to move forward, but in a way which supports capability development objectives”. Encouraging a sense of urgency, Mr Roger concluded, “We need to become more implementation focused in future, finding solutions to overcoming barriers.  We need to start developing and agreeing plans for action, and we need to do it now.”

The Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector is a European Commission initiative managed by the European Defence Agency. It brings together experts from the defence and energy sectors to share information and best practice on improving energy management, energy efficiency, and the use of renewable energy. The Consultation Forum takes place in a series of five plenary meetings over 24 months, concluding in October 2017.

The work is carried out in three parallel working groups each with a particular focus: (1) Energy Management, (2) Energy Efficiency & 3) Renewable Energy.