News Feed nº6
The French Italian aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia in Mars
On July 30 the American agency NASA has launched an Atlas V rocket to Mars. Its mission is to study Mars surface, taking soil samples and analyzing them lately to understand if there is life on Mars. This mission is carried out jointly with the European Space Agency (ESA). For this mission, the French Italian aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia has provided a high performance new generation laser called “SuperCam”, which will be carried by the NASA Perseverance rover. It will provide a qualitative and quantitative portrait of the basic chemical composition of a sample and it will determinate the molecular composition of surface materials. According to ESA, those samples will be returned by two future missions in 2026. The ESA’s involvement in this mission will cost probably 1,5 billion euros.
Meeting of the Head of French, German and Spanish Procurement Agencies on SCAF
The French Délégué Général pour l’Armement, Joël Barre, the German State Secretary for Defence Benedikt Zimmer and the new Spanish State Secretary for Defence Esperanza Casteleiro Llamazare met on July 17th to share the status on armament cooperation and especially the Next Generation Weapon System (NGWS).
Identified as key for replacing the combat aircraft fleet by 2035, the NGWS program has been subject to a framework agreement signed in June 2019 Paris Air Show, followed by Research & Technologies studies last February. The global cost is estimated between 50 and 80 billions euros.
During this meeting, they confirmed their common intent to engage themselves in a demonstrator phase from 2021 to 2026 for the various components of the system.
This may be key for the French parliament, who recently expressed their concern about the long-term commitment from France’s partners regarding the evolution of national political issues. They stated that the project should be made irreversible by signing a global framework contract for the demonstrator studies, instead of successive ones.
First European sanctions answering cyberattacks
A step in Europe’s reaction to cyberthreats and cyberattacks has been made. Answering the attempt against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in April 2018, and the more recent called WannaCry, NotPetya and Operation Cloud Hopper, six individuals and three entities have been exposed to restrictive measures. They consist of a travel ban, an asset freeze, and the interdiction for EU persons and entities to make funds available to them.
The EU agreed in June 2017 to develop a cyber diplomacy toolbox to encourage cooperation to answer to malicious cyber activities. The legal framework for targeted restrictive measures against cyber-attacks was then adopted in May 2019 and recently renewed.
12.000 US troops withdrawn from Germany
US President Trump’s announcement regarding the withdrawal of around 12.000 American soldiers from military bases in Germany surprised the world, NATO and of course the host country itself. With the first long-term deployment of troops in Germany right after World War II, this characterizes one of the most drastic measures in the late US-German relations – a reduction of more than 25% of the entire military presence in Germany. President Trump underlines his order as a direct consequence of Germany’s lack of investment in the defense sector, albeit the country’s financial subsidy of almost one billion euros towards the local US-military infrastructure. Despite the lack of prior communication and the non-conformance to diplomatic customs regarding this sudden decision, the general strategic shift is nothing new. Under former president Barack Obama the United States increasingly enhanced their military focus towards Asia, as the tensions between the US and China keep rising. Thousands of US troops are expected to be deployed to Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan and Australia – many of which are currently stationed in Germany. In times of growing cross-Atlantic division within NATO, the pressure on leaders in Europe increases as well, as such developments are crucial for the decision making regarding strategic military co-operations inside Europe.
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