ALEXANDER CAMPBELL / LONDON
Leading executives call for higher funding and better government co-ordination to close widening gap with USA
As the latest-generation fighter programmes move into series production, the European defence industry needs new and demanding goals, warns Saab's next chief executive, Åke Svensson.
Svensson, head of Saab Aerospace and due to succeed Saab chief executive Bengt Halse in July, says that without new aircraft development programmes, the European military aerospace industry could fall into decline.
"My worry is that we are lacking a focused, demanding, next-generation system such as a UCAV [unmanned combat air vehicle]," says Svensson.
"The USA and Europe need a strong European industry, and if we are not careful, we will end up with only subcontracting work in Europe. We need to work together across the Atlantic, but we also need strong programmes ourselves. JSF [the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter] may be one way of involving Europe, but it's mainly about subcontracting."
In an open letter to European Union governments released last week, the chief executives of Europe's three largest defence companies echoed Svensson's comments, calling for increased military spending and better co-ordination between European governments. Mike Turner (BAE Systems), Denis Ranque (Thales), and Rainer Hertrich and Philippe Camus (EADS) point to three main areas where they feel European governments are failing.
Firstly, they say, defence budgets are too low - far lower than in the USA, despite Europe's larger economy - and too variable. Svensson agrees, pointing to the importance of stable budgets: "We need demanding programmes with tight time scales, but they must be long-term - not one-year programmes."
Secondly, the US-European technology gap is now so great that "the capabilities of European nations to conduct joint operations with the USA are therefore at risk", say the chief executives. Budgets must rise urgently in research and technology development, especially in key areas such as networking, observation and interoperability, they add.
Thirdly, procurement is not co-ordinated between countries. Despite the launch of joint procurement organisations such as OCCAR, "we have a way to go" to eliminate unnecessary duplication of effort and inefficiencies, they say.
Europe's technology weaknesses are particularly acute in areas such as precision munitions and network-centric warfare, they say.
"It is sobering to recognise the sheer extent of the transatlantic budgetary gap in this respect," say the chief executives. Gaps in other areas, such as strategic transport and tanker aircraft, have been recognised for years, but progress remains slow (Flight International, 11-17 March).
Source: Flight International
