Bernhard Gerwert, Manching

Air and Sea Power The sea is a source of wealth, tightly interconnecting countries in complex and time-critical ways. With the freedom of the seas constantly under threat, maritime forces today play a key role in securing sea lanes, coasts and harbours. Air and naval forces conduct continuous airborne, sea and ground surveillance operations, but can also constitute a formidable deterrent and intervention force. They cannot bomb a country into peace, but they can pave the way for peace.

An opportunity that Europe cannot afford to waste Future Unmanned Aerial Systems for Europe

by Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Cassidian, Munich

The history of military aviation is inextricably linked with the evolution of information procurement and the pursuit of information superiority. An increasingly essential requirement for the success of future military operations in an environment marked by asymmetrical crises and conflicts is the availability of a complete and comprehensive aerial situational picture. This picture must capture all groups – both those involved and uninvolved in the conflict – and serve as a basis for differentiating between them and identifying their actions, with a view, in turn, to deriving independent actions.

New quality of reconnaissance The growing complexity of situations means that there is an even greater need on the one hand, for this picture to be available immediately, and on the other hand, for it to be constantly updated over a longer period of time. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) increasingly provide those aerial reconnaissance, surveillance and observation capabilities. UAS can be equipped in a variety of ways and are capable of hovering over the area of interest for extended periods without, moreover, endangering pilots. Reducing the danger to staff undoubtedly leads to “better” decisions in terms of mission success, irrespective of whether the danger comes from radiation from a damaged nuclear power plant or from enemy air defence troops. UAS will play an important role in all areas of capability and performance in the network-centric operations of tomorrow. Within the European armed forces, however, this network will for the foreseeable future show big capability gaps that will, over the years, lead to blind spots in reconnaissance.

Lack of willingness to invest There is no denying the increasing importance of reconnaissance capabilities precisely in asymmetrical threat scenarios, yet the willingness to invest in the technologies necessary for those capabilities is stagnating in Europe, with far-reaching consequences. Military demand is nonetheless certain: UAS integrated into data and command networks will in future play a key role in resolving military crises and conflicts, which is why it is essential to make them available to the armed forces. At this point, the question arises as to how these requirements can be translated into equipment and provisions. Can and should the necessary equipment be procured as available on the market? Does the unmanned aerial component of the requested information and tactical operation network possess the desired characteristics? Or would it be better to develop the requirements into a customised solution through an industrial development process?

Dual-use products not always optimal Whether off-the-shelf products represent the more cost-effective solution, taking into account the costs over the entire

service life, is debatable. In addition, purchased solutions are in most cases incongruous with the requirement profiles and prescribed corporate regulations. In this respect, the rules and requirements would need, upon sale, to be adapted to the equipment purchased, or extensive modifications would have to be made – if at all possible. This year the German Air Force learned the hard way about the ultimate consequence of purchasing aircraft that do not meet the regulation profile. It must also be clearly understood that giving up development and production activities means in the longer term a loss of experience in both the technology and production areas.

Europe needs its own capabilities – now Looking at the issue of ensuring capabilities not only from the economic but also the industrial policy point of view, the European military aviation industry badly needs to manoeuvre itself into a position from which it is able to develop and expand its own UAS capabilities. “Catching up” later on technical know-how, capabilities, skills and experience is hard, if not completely impossible, which is where a European UAS programme takes on a strategic dimension. Europe is already well positioned in the field of tactical UAS, but only the superordinate MALE segment is in a position, in terms of payload capacity, endurance in the theatre of operations and the corresponding satellite connections, to provide the decision-making aids that enable military missions to be planned comprehensively. The time to start building up these capabilities is now. The key European nations have indicated their needs and scheduled

Bernhard Gerwert has been CEO of Cassidian since 2012. Born in 1953, he has an economics degree from the University of Bielefeld and an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Paderborn. Prior to his current positions, from 2007 to 2012 he was CEO of Military Air Systems and a Member of the Board of EADS Defence & Security. Until July 2007 he was President and CEO of the EADS Defence Electronics Business Unit, after having served as Senior Vice President of the Air and Naval Defence Line of Business. Photo: Cassidian

entry into service from 2020 onwards. A programme of this kind requires not only current capabilities for developing systems that meet the demands in terms of agile, autonomous and, in future, multifaceted and fully network-centric UAS, but necessarily also the ongoing development of technologies and capabilities for the next generation of military aircraft.

Europe still has industrial capabilities The European defence industry is still able to design, develop and manufacture aircraft, even in the most technologically demanding field of unmanned flight. Europe can still develop independent reconnaissance capabilities. Information superiority goes hand in hand with information sovereignty. Europe could thus equip itself independently of the US or Israel, precisely in this sensitive area of intelligence.

Future European MALE– concept study and design proposal for a future European MALE UAS, Artist’s Impression Photo: © Cassidian

Typhoon Meet: Eurofighter – an example of successful European military aviation cooperation photo:© Eurofighter GmbH

44 Looking at this once again from the economic standpoint, the solution to the given scenario can only lie in European cooperation. The scarce resources available must be jointly used for a common solution – the sum total of individual requirements would then result in a quantity that would make development and production costs appear manageable. It would then be all the easier to reach agreement on certification regulations for UAS flight in controlled airspace. Europe could even assume a defining pioneering role in this respect − a not impossible undertaking, since the need exists in all European countries. It should therefore be possible to adjust the respective requirements and to combine them in a common product. For instance, the Tornado and Eurofighter combat aircraft were jointly developed and were/are being manufactured and used in European collaborative ventures, with support from industry.

Harmonising needs These examples show that harmonising needs is just as viable as apportioning planning, development and production shares fairly in terms of industrial policy, while simultaneously ensuring that all partners have equal access to the technology used.

Meeting operational needs There is no stopping technological progress, which will also extend into the military sphere, above all when the threat to our own soldiers’ lives can be reduced through information Heron I – leased UAS interim solution currently being used by the German Armed Forces photo:© Cassidian

superiority. Operationally speaking, therefore, the future of airborne reconnaissance belongs to unmanned systems. Europe as a whole will not be able to escape the dynamics of technology. It remains to be seen, however, how long the constituent countries will be prepared to limit their own freedom of design by relinquishing technological capabilities and, as a consequence thereof, knowingly tolerate the depletion of industrial skills.