A new Western European Union Assembly report on unmanned air vehicle and unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) programmes says a proliferation of development activities among European countries is undermining the potential for increased co-operation - both on the continent and with the USA.
Prepared by the WEU's technological and aerospace committee and endorsed by the assembly on 30 November, the report says the newly established European Defence Agency needs to act quickly to develop common standards and protocols for UAV and UCAV systems. It also cautions that while the Dassault-led Neuron UCAV demonstrator project is attempting to "define a standard that is also applicable to non-participants", the effort will remain "limited" in its outcomes "as long as neither Germany nor the United Kingdom are participants".
The report says that efforts such as Neuron and the EADS-led Euromale medium-altitude long-endurance UAV programme are necessary steps to "organise a consistent and harmonised approach to requirements in this field", but that both approaches lack a higher level of European co-ordination. There is a clear need for "staunch political support and an overall vision of the integration of these new weapon systems", it says.
"This is the responsibility of the European Capability Action Plan project groups, as well as the European Defence Agency," it says. "The new technologies and their defence applications offer opportunities to all countries, but it is important to regroup and co-ordinate efforts as far upstream as possible to avoid difficulties arising from the growing 'digital gap' between forces."
The development of network-centric systems for use by different national forces without a common European or transatlantic network will be equally damaging, says the report. "The capabilities available to Europe for conducting technological warfare alongside the USA will not be sufficient to lend it any real political weight in coalitions of the willing," the report warns.
"Already there is a proliferation of industrial UAV and UCAV programmes both at a national level and in co-operation (funded by companies pending requests from governments), " the report says. "While the aims they share are laudable, their effect is to keep technological exchanges within a closed circuit, which in turn leads to the development of different, non-interoperable and non-interchangeable standards."
PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
Source: Flight International
