The European Union is pondering an EU Commission proposal to acquire a fleet of surveillance drones, satellites, and planes as part of an “ambitious action” to boost the European defense industry. It follows revelations of the NSA’s spying programs.
The European Commission has issued a 17-page report, proposing some concrete steps that
would encourage pan-European defense cooperation.
“Maintaining and developing defense capabilities to meet current
and future challenges in spite of severe budget constraints will
only be possible if far-reaching political and structural reforms
are made. The time has come to take ambitious action,” the
Commission’s report said.
One of the actions suggested in the report is funding a
pre-commercial procurement scheme to acquire prototypes of some
technologies – including drones.
The full list of technology candidates includes equipment to
detect chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives
threats (CBRNE), “communication equipment based on software
defined radio technology,” and remotely-piloted aircraft
systems (RPAS), otherwise known as drones.
According to Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the report, the European
Commission has for long been eyeing the possibility of using
drones over Europe.
“The European Commission has long identified the potential of
this emerging technology and supported the market by investing in
research and innovation relevant for RPAS through the Framework
Programme for Research. A broad stakeholders’ consultation has
demonstrated the necessity for action at EU level, setting as
priorities the further development of RPAS civil applications and
the integration of the systems into the European air space as
soon as possible,” the document said.
It also claimed it would “take into account the data
protection and privacy concerns associated with the civil use of
RPAS.”
The drones are also proposed to be used in conjunction with other
surveillance technologies, including aircraft and satellites.
Lamenting the absence of a structural link between civil and
military space activities in the EU and saying that Europe
“can no longer afford” the economic and political cost of
such a divide, the Commission focused on several technologies
that are said to be able to serve both civilian and defense
objectives.
These include space surveillance and tracking (SST), which are
said to be aimed at protecting satellites from space debris,
boosting satellite communications (SATCOM), and building a pan-EU
cutting-edge satellite surveillance capability.
The report said it is “crucial” for a number of
technologies to be explored and developed in the EU, including
“hyper-spectral, high resolution satellites in geostationary
orbit or advanced ultra-high resolution satellites in combination
with new sensor platforms such as RPAS.”
The Commission has yet to estimate to what extent the proposed
moves are useful for EU security. Based on the assessment, it
will “come up with a proposal for which capability needs, if
any, could best be fulfilled by assets directly purchased, owned
and operated by the [European] Union.”
A response to Snowden’s NSA leaks?
The Commission’s report is part of the ongoing debate on the common EU defense policy which is set to culminate in a summit of European leaders in December.
Media reports have said that the European Commission and Lady
Ashton’s European External Action Service actually want to create
military commands and communications systems to be used by the EU
for internal security and defense purposes.
The UK, which stoutly opposes such motion, is said to be leading
an intense behind-the-scenes battle against establishing an EU
military operations headquarters in Brussels.
Curiously, senior European officials regard the plan as an urgent
response to the recent scandal over NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden’s revelations on American and British communications
surveillance.
“The Edward Snowden scandal shows us that Europe needs its own
autonomous security capabilities, this proposal is one step
further towards European defense integration,” a senior EU
official said, as quoted by the Daily Telegraph.
However, plans to create the EU’s own security and spying agency
and employ spy drones and satellites for “internal and
external security policies” – which would reportedly include
police intelligence, internet surveillance, protection of
external borders, and maritime overwatch – will likely raise
concerns that the EU is creating its own version of the NSA.
The Open Europe think tank has already warned that the EU “has
absolutely no democratic mandate for actively controlling and
operating military and security capabilities.”
“The fact is, European countries have different views on
defense and this is best served by intergovernmental cooperation,
not by European Commission attempts at nation-building,” Open
Europe research analyst Pawel Swidlicki said.