By Alan Dron
Continued problems in rationalising Europe’s missile programmes are likely to result in a lack of any major challenge to the US missile industry, according to a report published yesterday.
Even the consolidation of several European missile houses in recent years is unlikely to have brought many short-term advantages, according to Steven Zaloga, lead analyst for Teal Group’s World Missiles & UAV Briefing.
“Hard decisions will have to be made regarding the fate of duplicate research, production and management facilities,” says Zaloga. “Several of the companies involved have been competitors, and have product lines that compete with those of their new partners.
“Some rationalisation will have to take place to gain the efficiencies promised, yet there are ample indications that they will not occur. This turmoil will not help the Europeans compete with the US in the short term.”
Neither, he adds, is consolidation helping coordination of European defence budgets: “National interests still tend to dominate a great deal of European defence decision-making.” For example, Italy continues to acquire Otomat anti-ship missiles instead of consolidating their purchases with the MBDA Exocet.
A similar pattern is apparent in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market. “European countries are still going their own way on their UAV development and procurement, even though this would have been an ideal area to begin developing a common European capability.”
He believes that current operational requirements will fuel continued demand for relatively low-speed hunter-killers, such as the General Atomics MQ-9 Predator, which have the ability to use onboard sensors and slow speeds to loiter over an area of interest, rather than the current planned advanced unmanned combat aerial vehicles, “which are intended more or les for pre-programmed strikes, where their function is more like that of a conventional missile.”
Source: Flight Daily News
