UAV acquisition and requirements
Most EU members have either acquired or will soon acquire UAVs (see Table 1 for a comprehensive list). However, the combined EU efforts are small compared to the US acquisitions. As noted earlier, in three years (US Fiscal Years 2004, 2005 and 2006) the US bought 295 UAVs15. In the same period EU members bought less then 100. Budget-wise one can compare the US expenditure of US$2.66bn in just those three years, with the fact that the full UK Watchkeeper UAV programme, which covers most of UK UAV acquisitions for the coming decade, will cost about half of that expenditure.
The most urgent requirements are for tactical, MALE and HALE long-range UAVs. Interestingly there seems to be less interest in mini- and micro-UAVs, despite the fact that several EU members are involved in conflicts where the US found a strong need for such Many UAVs planned or in service with EU Member States are not of EU origin, even in those states that have an indigenous industry capable of producing them. The strong position of Israeli companies in developing UAVs is obvious. Although they provide many of the UAVs ordered by EU states, often these are ‘disguised’ as a European product, produced at least nominally by a European company.
Frequently, the systems are given different designations to further hide their origin. For example, in 1998, Belgium ordered three B-Hunter UAV systems with 18 UAVs. They were produced by a consortium specifically set up for the production Eagle, owned 50 per cent by Sonaca (Belgium), 25 per cent by Thales-Belgium (Belgium) and 25 per cent by IAI (Israel). It is interesting to note is that only two other UAVs competed for the order: the French Sperwer and the Swiss Ranger. The latter is reality is another Israeli UAV produced by a European company.
The strong position of the two main Israeli UAV producers, IAI and Elbit, is also reflected in the fact that the UK selected the Elbit Hermes-450 UAV for its Watchkeeper programme (and renaming it Hermes, WK-450), and from the fact that France bought Heron UAVs from IAI as an ‘interim’ solution for its MALE programme (and renaming Heron, Eagle). The Eagle will be used by EADS reconnaissance systems. France requires up to 24 MALE UAVs and is most likely to order Eagle-2 UAVs, developed by IAI and EADS from the Eagle-1, which probably means that IAI will deliver a version of its Heron-2 UAV fitted with EADS sensors.
US producers are also major suppliers to EU countries. While some of the supplies are related to military aid programmes (Poland’s acquisition of US UAVs is financed by US aid), US producers have strong products in the large Predator MALE and Global Hawk HALE UAVs. European industry has yet to develop such systems.
Among the biggest UAV programme ongoing in the EU is the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme. This programme, worth over €3Bn, envisages NATO’s acquisition of a long-range airborne ground-surveillance capability based on four large aircraft and four RQ-4B Global Hawk UAVs. The most important aspects of the NATO AGS here are: the fact that the AGS will be NATO controlled and thereby will provide EU countries some access to long-range UAVs; the fact that there was no alternative for the US-produced RQ-4; and that the cost for the advanced and high-performance ground surveillance radar would be around €200m each.
Germany also wants the Global Hawk, but in a SIGINT role a version called Euro Hawk carrying a European sensor package consisting of COMINT and ELINT equipment (produced respectively by Rohde & Schwarz and by EADS). Germany plans to buy 4-6 UAVs for around €600m to replace manned long-range Atlantic SIGINT aircraft. There is a possibility of a second order for Euro Hawk UAVs equipped with radar for ground surveillance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment