Posted on 03/01/2005 9:11:24 PM PST by Flavius
THE European Union is to develop unmanned drones, new armoured vehicles and advanced communication systems in a strategy to become a military superpower and close the defence technology gap with the United States. The programme involves setting up a joint EU fighter-pilot training programme and co-ordinating the testing of military equipment on proving grounds and in wind tunnels.
The initiatives from the newly-created European Defence Agency represent the EU’s first step in military research and development. They are aimed at transforming the EU from being solely a political power, in charge of policies such as agriculture and trade, to a military one, capable of sending troops around the world to enforce a foreign policy agreed by its member states.
The strategy has proved controversial to EU members such as the Irish Republic and Sweden, who fear that their traditional neutrality is being threatened, as well as in Britain, where there has been concern that it will undermine Nato and its close military relationship with the United States.
Nick Witney, the British chief executive of the European Defence Agency, set up last month, explained his plans to boost Europe’s “defence, technological and industrial base” by co-ordinating the military activity of EU members.
“Europe does not have the defence capabilities that it ought to. I want to see what we can do to get more bang for the buck than is already provided and I am sure we can go a long way applying all the separate defence lines across Europe more coherently,” he said.
Concern about Europe’s military weakness came to the fore in the 1990s when it was unable to prevent civil war in the Balkans. Since then, the European Union has been developing a common foreign policy and set up the EDA to increase its military power.
Mr Witney said: “(Europe) set itself the relatively modest initial ambition to be able to put 60,000 troops in the field for two months and keep that level of force there for a year, and frankly failed to do that.
“When you think that we have two million men and women under arms in Europe and you link that to €160 billion (£115 billion) of defence expenditure across Europe it suggests money is not being well spent.”
Part of the problem, he said, was that Europe’s armies, as well as being fragmented, are still focused on fighting battles with the Soviet Union and have failed to move “to the information age” of warfare.
“Is it really useful that we spend money in Europe maintaining in service 11,000 main battle tanks? Would it not be better to concentrate on more modern technologies such as communication? Modern warfare depends on intelligence.”
Because countries are duplicating armed forces, the EU has “too much of the old expensive platform assets. We probably have collectively too many fighter aircraft, too many naval hulls, too many battle tanks.”
The defence industries making the equipment are duplicated — there are half a dozen tank manufacturers across Europe. Many member states are separately trying to develop a new drone (an unmanned aircraft for reconnaissance) and new armoured vehicles. It is one of Mr Witney’s first tasks to put these many programmes together.
Previous European military projects have been uncoordinated, and plagued with problems: the Eurofighter is hugely over budget; the Airbus A400M transporter plane is severely delayed; and the Horizon frigate has been abandoned.
The biggest threat to EU is USA isnt it nice? When will the stormtroopers march again?
Now why on earth would they be worried about us.. oh yeah, we've beat the sh%t out of em twice--at least
Has anyone informed them that they will have to actually spend money to accomplish this? Once that happens, their grand plan will evaporate like a fart in the wind.
Nothing to worry about. This article tells what they WANT to do in the future. Even if they are capable of delivering on the promise, it'll take so frickin long that we'll have to come back to Earth in our space cruisers to laugh at them. Remember their joint tactical fighter? Took a decade longer, cost a ton more, and was so designed by committee that by the time they were done adding gizmos, it couldn't actually carry any weapons.
They have to have the will to fight for something to actually use a weapon first. In their hands a pocket knife is as deadly as a cruise missle. They will both gather dust.
Well last time Germans got their unemployment in order was when they rearmed
Guess its getting to be that time again, incidently the unemployment in germany is at the same percentage as when last corporal had the helm...
ahm..
Never gonna happen.
High-tech weaponry costs big bucks. Europe, already suffering mightily under confiscatory tax rates, high unemployment, pi$$-poor worker productivity, and an appeasement-minded pacifist citizenry, simply cannot compete with the USA in the tech and/or military arena.
He said "bang for the buck" ????? are they adopting the dollar? or have we usurped their identity already ?!WWAAAHHAHAHAHA!!!!
Where are they hiding 11,000 main battle tanks?
The Vichy French and the Old Europe Nazi's are teaming up again
The biggest threat to EU is USA isnt it nice? When will the stormtroopers march again?
Won't be long
and exactly how would they move those across the atlantic?
This time their Muslim underclass will fill the ranks of their armed forces.
We really should stop sending our high tech military toys to anyone outside the US military. With all this EU talk of ending the arms embargo against China should we even be sending the euro twerps walkie talkies? I bet the US Navy and Taiwan would get a real kick seeing the Joint Strike Fighter flying against them.
England now enjoys relative ease getting the licenses for all kinds of high tech weaponry and should thank our multi billion dollar military industrial base enough to quit trying to sell us out. Europe should invent their own weapon systems and when they fail and they have to surrender in the next war they should call their fascist allies to help them and not us.
Everytime that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face gettin’ clearer
The past is gone
It went by like dust to dawn
Isn’t that the way
Everybody’s got their dues in life to pay
I know what nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody’s sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life is in books’ written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it’s true
All the things come back to you
Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it’s just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away
(x2)
Dream on, dream on
Dream yourself a dream come true
Dream on, dream on
Dream until your dream come true
Dream on, dream on, dream on...
Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it’s just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away
Going into battle without the French is like going Deer hunting without your Accordion
If I gave my five year old son the same gun that I had that wouldn't make him equal to me! (I don't have a five year old.) The European thought process is so very different from the USA as to make a level playing field highly improbable.
"The strategy has proved controversial to EU members such as the Irish Republic and Sweden, who fear that their traditional neutrality is being threatened, "
Wait 'til the Irish try to trade in their Euro's and get their Punts back... at least the Swedes were not that stupid to give up their Krona.
This isn't about the USA, its about the EU setting itself up as the largest arms dealer on the planet. The French and Germans will sell to the highest bidder, then self-righteously lecture us when we are forced to clean up their mess.
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