Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) – Factsheet – European Union External Action

PESCO is a Treaty-based framework and process to deepen defence cooperation amongst EU Member States who are capable and willing to do so. The aim is to jointly develop defence capabilities and make them available for EU military operations. This will thus enhance the EU’s capacity as an international security partner, also contributing to protection of Europeans and maximise the effectiveness of defence spending.

The difference between PESCO and other forms of cooperation is the binding nature of the commitments undertaken by participating Member States. However, participation remains voluntary and decision-making will remain in the hands of participating Member States.

Source: Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) – Factsheet – EEAS – European External Action Service – European Commission

They commit to the following (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/31511/171113-pesco-notification.pdf):
Based on the collective benchmarks identified in 2007
, participating Member States subscribe to the following commitments:
1.Regularly increasing defence budgets in real terms, in order to reach agreed objectives.
2.Successive medium – term increase in defence investment expenditure to 20% of total defence spending (collective benchmark) in order to fill strategic capability gaps by participating in defence capabilities projects in accordance
with CDP and Coordinated An
nual Review (
CARD).
3. Increasing joint and “collaborative” strategic defence capabilities projects.
Such joint and collaborative projects should be supported through the
European Defence Fund if required and as appropriate.
4.
Increasing the share of
expenditure allocated to defence research and
technology with a view to nearing the 2% of total defence spending (collective
benchmark).
5.
Establishment of a regular review of these commitments (with the aim of
endorsement by the Council)
“
(b) bring their
defence apparatus into line with each other as far as possible, particularly by
harmonising the identification of their military needs, by pooling and, where appropriate,
specialising their defence means and capabilities, and by encouraging cooperation in
the
fields of training and logistics.”
6.
Playing a substantial role in capability development within the EU, including
within the framework of CARD, in order to ensure the availability of the
necessary capabilities for achieving the level of ambition in Eur
ope.
7.
Commitment to support the CARD to the maximum extent possible
acknowledging the voluntary nature of the review and individual constraints
of participating Member States.
8.
Commitment to the intensive involvement of a future European Defence
Fund in mul
tinational procurement with identified EU added value.
9.
Commitment to drawing up harmonised requirements for all capability
development projects agreed by participating Member States.
4
10.
Commitment to considering the joint use of existing capabilities in order
to
optimize the available resources and improve their overall effectiveness.
11.
Commitment to ensure increasing efforts in the cooperation on cyber
defence, such as information sharing, training and operational support.
“
(c) take concrete measures to enhance
the availability, interoperability, flexibility and
deployability of their forces, in particular by identifying common objectives regarding the
commitment of forces, including possibly reviewing their national decision
–
making
procedures.”
12.
With regard to
availability and deployability of the forces, the participating
Member States are committed to:

Making available formations, that are strategically deployable, for the
realization of the EU LoA, in addition to a potential deployment of an EUBG.
This
commitment does neither cover a readiness force, a standing force nor a
stand by force.

Developing a solid instrument (e.g. a data base) which will only be accessible
to participating Member States and contributing nations to record available
and rapidly d
eployable capabilities in order to facilitate and accelerate the
Force Generation Process.

Aiming for fast
–
tracked political commitment at national level, including
possibly reviewing their national decision
–
making procedures.

Providing substantial suppor
t within means and capabilities to CSDP
operations (e.g. EUFOR) and missions (e.g. EU Training Missions)
–
with
personnel, materiel, training, exercise support, infrastructure or otherwise
–
which have been unanimously decided by the Council, without preju
dice to
any decision on contributions to CSDP operations and without prejudice to
any constitutional constraints,

Substantially contributing to EU BG by confirmation of contributions in
principle at least four years in advance, with a stand
–
by period in li
ne with the
EU BG concept, obligation to carry out EU BG exercises for the EU BG force
package (framework nation) and/or to participate in these exercises (all EU
Member States participating in EU BG).

Simplifying and standardizing cross border military
tr
ansport
in Europe for
enabling rapid deployment of military materiel and personnel.
13.With regard to interoperability of forces, the participating Member States
are committed to:

Developing the interoperability of their forces
by:
–
Commitment to agree on com
mon evaluation and validation criteria for
the EU BG force package aligned with NATO standards while
maintaining national certification.
5
–
Commitment to agree on common technical and operational standards of
forces acknowledging that they need to ensure
interoperability with
NATO.

Optimizing multinational structures: participating Member States could
commit
to joining and playing an active role in the main existing and possible
future structures partaking in European external action in the military field
(EUROCORPS,
EUROMARFOR,
EUROGENDFOR,
MCCE/ATARES/SEOS).
14.Participating Member States will strive for an ambitious approach to
common funding of military CSDP operations and missions, beyond what
will be defined as common cost according to the Athena council
decision.
“
(d) work together to ensure that they take the necessary measures to make good, including
through multinational approaches, and without prejudice to undertakings in this regard
within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the shortfalls
perceived in the framework of
the ‘Capability Development Mechanism.’”
15.Help to overcome capability shortcomings identified under the Capability
Development Plan (CDP) and CARD. These capability projects shall increase
Europe’s strategic autonomy and stren
gthen the European Defence
Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB).
16.Consider as a priority a European collaborative approach in order to fill
capability shortcomings identified at national level and, as a general rule,
only use an exclusively national ap
proach if such an examination has been
already carried out.
17.Take part in at least one project under the PESCO which develops or
provides capabilities identified as strategically relevant by Member States.
“
(e) take part, where appropriate, in the developm
ent of major joint or European equipment
programmes in the framework of the European Defence Agency.”
18.Commitment to the use of EDA as the European forum for joint capability
development and consider the OCCAR as the preferred collaborative
program managin
g organization.
19.Ensure that all projects with regard to capabilities led by participating Member States make the European defence industry more competitive via an appropriate industrial policy which avoids unnecessary overlap.
20. Ensure that the cooperation
programmes – which must only benefit entities
which demonstrably provide added value on EU territory – and the acquisition strategies adopted by the participating Member States will have a positive impact on the EDTIB

Paramount Aerospace Systems has been in negotiation with the French Government to acquire four Dual-Seater Mirage F1s. These aircraft are compatible with the existing fleet of Mirage F1 aircraft that was acquired by Paramount group from the South African Government.

The Company has extensive capability on this aircraft type with full airframe and engine overhaul capability, as well as the ability to upgrade, modernise avionics and mission systems.

Brian Greyling, CEO of Paramount Aerospace Systems said: “One of the most important trends in today’s military aviation market is the increasing utilisation of legacy aircraft for adversary training by air forces. The new acquisition of the Mirage F1 aircraft will inject additional ‘top gun’ capability into Paramount Group’s advanced pilot training programmes. Paramount Aerospace Systems is now recognised as the only privately-owned aerospace company in the world that is capable of offering military type aircraft training from ab initio to supersonic fighter capability.”

Paramount group

Sweden’s Transport Agency moved all of its data to “the cloud”, apparently unaware that there is no cloud, only somebody else’s computer. In doing so, it exposed and leaked every conceivable top secret database: fighter pilots, SEAL team operators, police suspects, people under witness relocation. Names, photos, and home addresses: the list is just getting started. The responsible director has been found guilty in criminal court of the whole affair, and sentenced to the harshest sentence ever seen in Swedish government: she was docked half a month’s paycheck.
[…]
Last March, the entire register of vehicles was sent to marketers subscribing to it. This is normal in itself, as the vehicle register is public information, and therefore subject to Freedom-of-Information excerpts. What was not normal were two things: first, that people in the witness protection program and similar programs were included in the register distributed outside the Agency, and second, when this fatal mistake was discovered, a new version without the sensitive identities was not distributed with instructions to destroy the old copy. Instead, the sensitive identities were pointed out and named in a second distribution with a request for all subscribers to remove these records themselves. This took place in open cleartext e-mail.
[…]
The weight capacity of all roads and bridges (which is crucial for warfare, and says a lot about what roads are intended to be used as wartime airfields);

Names, photos, and home addresses of fighter pilots in the Air Force;

Names, photos, and home addresses of everybody and anybody in a police register, all of which are classified;

Names, photos, and home addresses of all operators in the military’s most secret units – equivalent to the SAS or SEAL teams;

Names, photos, and home addresses of everybody in a witness relocation program or who has been given protected identity for other reasons;

Type, model, weight, and any defects of any and all government and military vehicles, including their operator, which says a ton about the structure of military support units;

[…]
All of this was not just outside the proper agencies, but outside the European Union, in the hands of people who had absolutely no security clearance. All of this data can be expected to have been permanently exposed.

Source: Worst government leak: clueless agency moved everything to “The Cloud”

Just completely wow!

A shadowy international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first detailed picture of how TigerSwan, which originated as a U.S. military and State Department contractor helping to execute the global war on terror, worked at the behest of its client Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, to respond to the indigenous-led movement that sought to stop the project.

Internal TigerSwan communications describe the movement as “an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component” and compare the anti-pipeline water protectors to jihadist fighters. One report, dated February 27, 2017, states that since the movement “generally followed the jihadist insurgency model while active, we can expect the individuals who fought for and supported it to follow a post-insurgency model after its collapse.” Drawing comparisons with post-Soviet Afghanistan, the report warns, “While we can expect to see the continued spread of the anti-DAPL diaspora … aggressive intelligence preparation of the battlefield and active coordination between intelligence and security elements are now a proven method of defeating pipeline insurgencies.”

More than 100 internal documents leaked to The Intercept by a TigerSwan contractor, as well as a set of over 1,000 documents obtained via public records requests, reveal that TigerSwan spearheaded a multifaceted private security operation characterized by sweeping and invasive surveillance of protesters.

Source: Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”

It’s just like cowboys and indians again!

28 countries backed the Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) with a view to it taking over this spring.

The embryonic military headquarters has long been opposed by Britain, the bloc’s leading military power, but the idea was revived by Germany and France after the British voted to leave the EU.

The organisation would command the bloc’s “non-executive military missions”, within the existing EU military staff of the European External Action Service (EEAS). These include the three military training missions the bloc now runs in Mali, Somalia and Central African Republic.

“These missions are important for peacekeeping but also for security in the region,” said Carmelo Abela, foreign minister of Malta, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the EU.

In the future, this could also cover any capacity-building, monitoring or demobilisation and disarmament military missions.

“We are progressing steadily towards strengthened defence cooperation and we will continue to do more,” EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said after the ministers’ meeting.

Source: EU takes first steps towards military HQ – EURACTIV.com

It is currently compromised of 30 personel and is designed to simplify the reporting from the (now 3) EU missions to this staff and from there a single report to Brussels.

Russia has rolled out its first RAC MiG-35 fighter and announced its intention to offer the multirole type to a host of potential export customers, including India.

Source: Russia reveals export ambitions for MiG-35

THE Royal Navy’s entire fleet of attack submarines is currently out of action. Repairs and maintenance to all seven have left none to defend our waters — or monitor Russia’s relentless probes. But …

Source: The Royal Navy’s ENTIRE fleet of attack submarines is out of action — and Theresa May doesn’t know because ‘chiefs fear reaction’

Fortunately the Vanguard nuclear deterrent fleet is still sailing. This is what happens when you keep taking “peace dividend” when there is no peace.

Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert van Defensie heeft vandaag een brief naar Tweede Kamer gestuurd over de invoering van het Total Force Concept. In Nederland ‘de Adaptieve Krijgsmacht’ genoemd. Hierin presenteert de bewindsvrouw hoe zij de krijgsmacht nog flexibeler en duurzamer wil laten samenwerken met bedrijven en organisaties. De krijgsmacht heeft bijvoorbeeld niet meer alles zelf op de plank, maar kan over mens en materieel beschikken waar en wanneer dat nodig is.

Source: Defensie flexibeler met de Adaptieve Krijgsmacht | Nieuwsbericht | Defensie.nl

hier de kamerbrief

By employing personnel outside of defence and subcontracting jobs, they will work up to a more flexible model in 2020 in a “Total Force Concept”

In one of the largest successful demonstrations of swarming micro-drones, over 100 Perdix UAVs screamed over the US Naval Air Systems Command’s testing grounds at China Lake, California last October.

Source: Secretive DOD office reveals swarming Perdix UAVs

Royal Navy warships will be left without anti-ship missiles and be forced to rely on naval guns because of cost-cutting, the Ministry of Defence has admitted.

The Navy’s Harpoon missiles will retire from the fleet’s frigates and destroyers in 2018 without a replacement, while there will also be a two year gap without helicopter-launched anti-shipping missiles.

Naval sources said the decision was “like Nelson deciding to get rid of his cannons and go back to muskets” and one senior former officer said warships would “no longer be able to go toe-to-toe with the Chinese or Russians”.

Source: Royal Navy to lose missiles and be left only with guns

Britain will have to send its supersonic F-35 fighter jets to Italy for heavy overhauls, the UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed to The Register.

BAE Systems will maintain an airframe maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) capability at RAF Marham in Norfolk, according to a US announcement earlier this week.

However, that will only be used if Italy, the Americans’ designated airframe overhaul point in Europe, is unable to cope with demand.

“The F-35 programme is based on a global support solution concept. This is the most cost effective way to deliver the F-35 support solution and is based on economies of scale,” the MoD told The Register, adding: “The UK is establishing an F-35 airframe maintenance facility at RAF Marham to maintain UK aircraft. However, regional Airframe ‘Heavy’ MRO&U and Engine MRO&U will be undertaken in Italy and Turkey.”

In Europe, F-35 heavy maintenance will be carried out by the UK for the aircraft’s avionics, and as noted above, Italy for the airframes and Turkey for the jets’ F135 engines.

The MoD declined to answer questions as to why Britain’s carrier strike aircraft will have to be dismantled and shipped abroad for MRO&U work, when a perfectly good airframe overhaul facility exists over here, referring The Register to the Americans for an answer. This was said to be because the Americans have the lead on PR relating to F-35 maintenance arrangements and not because, as El Reg suggested, the US supplier tail is wagging the British customer dog.

Source: Britain must send its F-35s to Italy for heavy overhauls, decrees US

Being dependent on countries like Italy and Turkey sounds like a bad idea when it comes to maintaining your defence capabilities.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has placed a £2.5 million order for UK-designed and built miniature decoys which will help to protect combat jets from missiles.

BriteCloud, which is similar in size and appearance to a beverage can, can be fired from an aircraft’s flare dispenser without the need for modification to the aircraft. Once deployed, it uses powerful radar emissions to disrupt systems within radar-guided air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.

Source: MOD orders UK-designed mini missile decoy for RAF – News stories – GOV.UK

The 64-page report details a range of issues. It identifies 76 “capability deficiencies,” of which the Department of Defence (DoD) deems 60 to be “critical.”
[…]
On average, only 3.5 aircraft in the operational fleet of 16 helicopters were available on “any given day in 2015,” says ANAO. This is below targeted readiness of 12 aircraft.
[…]
Sustainment costs are also an issue. Initially, between 2004 and 2019 these were pegged at A$571 million ($431 million). This amount was eclipsed in 2014, and costs mounted to A$921 million in 2016. The cost per flight hour in June 2016 was A$30,335, compared with a target of A$20,000.
[…]
Weapons availability appears to be a challenge. In addition, there have been two incidents – one in Germany, one in Australia – where 70mm rocket pods were jettisoned with no command from the pilot. The cause of this problem has yet to be identified.

Source: ​Australian government auditor slams Tiger attack helicopter

The current service is provided by Cobham Aviation with its Dassault Falcon 20s and Fleet Air Arm-operated BAE Systems Hawk T1s flown by 736 NAS from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall and RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. The unit’s Hawks will be retired in 2020.

A phased plan of introducing other capabilities will continue throughout the next decade, with the Royal Air Force’s 100 Sqn and its Hawk T1s to give up their current aggressor training role in 2027.

“We need to make sure it is replaced by a very open architecture [way of working], to simulate, network and integrate the training capabilities around us,” Murray says of the existing model.

The concept phase was co-run by DE&S and the Nightworx organisation for the initial industry engagement activity, when more than 10 companies showed interest. The scope of the current work on ASDOT has not been disclosed, but a competition will be launched during 2017, in order to meet the deadlines set by the armed services.

Source: FARNBOROUGH: MoD outlines scope of ASDOT aggressor project

I’ve been trying to convince people this is a good idea for some time, but for some reason they look at me like I’m mad!

with more than 5,000 personnel from the two countries coming together for Exercise Griffin Strike.

The exercise, which involves a joint French/UK headquarters planning and executing military activity for the first time, will see the CJEF demonstrate ‘full validation of concept’. That means it will be available for bilateral, NATO, EU, UN or coalition operations.

Michael Fallon and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Exercise Griffin Strike today to witness land, sea and air elements operating as a rapidly deployable UK-France joint force.

The CJEF has been developed since 2010 as a product of the bilateral Lancaster House Treaty and is designed to operate for up to 90 days.

Source: Defence Secretary welcomes deployable UK-France joint force – News stories – GOV.UK

It’s joint, meaning it has land, sea and air components, but I couldn’t find an organisational structure anywhere.

The all-weather Drone Dome has 360° circular coverage, and uses an electro-optical/infrared sensor and radar to detect a threat. The data is then combined and correlated and alerts the operator of the hostile UAV. The system initiates either an automatic interference operation – as per pre-defined rules – or it is carried out manually by the operator. The threat is neutralised by activation of directional GNSS and a radiofrequency inhibitor/jammer.

Source: Rafael unveils “Drone Dome” anti-UAV system

nodegoat is a web-based data management, analysis & visualisation environment.

Source: Battles | Public Interface | nodegoat

Old sad dickless USMC leadership who can’t handle working with equally competent gay men or women are trying to get rid of mr Mabus who has not only insisted on using them in combat roles if they meet the standards but also (shock! horror!) insisted on exploring alternative fuels.

One is the integration of women into Marine infantry, Navy SEALs and other direct-combat jobs by April.

“If you can meet the standards, why should it matter if you are male or female? Why should it matter if you are straight or gay?” Mabus told reporters.

The other issue was the secretary’s push toward deploying ships and planes powered by alternative fuels, including biofuels made from mustard seed, algae or animal fat.

Mabus was in Coronado on Wednesday to preside over the deployment of an aircraft carrier group that included some ships burning a 90-10 blend of petroleum and animal fat fuels.

The secretary’s biofuels initiative became controversial when it became known that a 2011 buy of biofuel cost $15 a gallon for a 50-50 blend — four times the price of regular Navy ship fuel.

“Every single time there were naysayers,” Mabus said during a speech at the launch of his “great green fleet” Wednesday.

He was describing the Navy’s long history of embracing new power sources, including oil and later nuclear energy for ships.

“They were wrong again this time.”

The tenure of Mabus, a former Democratic governor of Mississippi, has included major social changes for the U.S. military — all of which he supported.

They included the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay service members.

Source: Military.com

These old USMC dinosours will go extinct soon, no-one will know such retarded and scared mysogonists put up a fight in a few years time.

The Air Force has hired civilian defense contractors to fly MQ-9 Reaper drones to help track suspected militants and other targets in global hot spots, a previously undisclosed expansion in the privatization of once-exclusively military functions.

Source: Air Force hires civilian drone pilots for combat patrols; critics question legality

With MiGFlug, you can fly a real fighter jet – even if you’ve never flown a plane on your own before! One of our experienced flight instructors will be carefully preparing you for the flight, explaining about the instruments and finally taking off with you. During the jet flight, if you wish to do so, you will even get the chance to operate the jet by yourself and perform stunning manoeuvres in the jet fighter aircraft. The flight consists of manoeuvres like loops, rolls, immelman turns and, depending on the aircraft and location, spectacular low-passes above the airfield as well as supersonic flights. Our pilots will adjust the flight to your wishes whenever possible. Together, you will ensure that your day as a fighter pilot will be the day of your life.

Source: MiGFlug – Jet Fighter Flights in Supersonic Military Fighter Aircraft

$18000 for a 50 minute flight in a MiG-29

Lockheed Martin claims to have overcome a major obstacle to shooting high-power laser weapons from high-speed aircraft, saying it has successfully completed 60 Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control (ABC) laser turret flight tests over the past year. The turret uses a green, low-power laser to measure the system’s effectiveness at jet cruise speeds and at different angles off the aircraft. Lockheed says one of the greatest obstacles to fielding a powerful airborne fibre laser weapon to shoot down enemy

Source: Lockheed touts ABC laser turret as testbed completes 60 flights

Top legal experts met this week in Estonia for a drafting session of the substantially expanded and updated edition of the handbook on applicability of international law to the cyber realm. […] The Tallinn Manual process is funded, hosted and facilitated by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Source: Tallinn Manual 2.0 to Be Completed in 2016 | CCDCOE

Angle limitations lead the list. The experiment tested the cloak with light hitting at a 45 degree angle, and works effectively only within a 6-degree range of angles. Kante said his team is working on ways to expand that. His study states that the math behind the effectiveness of this experiment indicates a “large range” of angles should be possible.

Also, Kante said the technology does not allow for a cloak that can hide an object from both visual and radar detection; a given cloak will only work for a fairly narrow range of wavelengths.

Source: Pentagon intrigued by breakthrough in cloaking technology

But it’s better than the RAM they have now and it’s 10 times thinner. So maybe it covers enough wavelengths to foil current radar, because the current version of stealth is unfortunately quite visible.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence has formalised an agreement with Pratt & Whitney to establish an organic F135 engine maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) shop at the Royal Netherlands Air Force’s Woensdrecht Logistics Centre with the goal of supporting Lockheed Martin F-35 operations by 2019.

Source: ​Dutch MOD, P&W sign contract to stand up F135 maintenance site