THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
30 years of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) Interview with Sorin Ducaru, Director of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen), Torrejón
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he European: Mr Ducaru, allow us to express our warmest congratulations on the 30th anniversary of your agency! For three decades now the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) in Torrejón has been actively supporting European foreign and security policy and has by now become the prime provider of geospatial intelligence analysis for the European Union (EU). You are going to align the Centre’s evolution with the EU’s increased level of ambition in the fields of space, security and defence. Let us have a look both back and ahead. Sorin Ducaru: Thank you very much for your kind words, and I gladly accept the congratulations on behalf of an amazing team of expert staff, some of which have indeed been working at the centre since its foundation 30 years ago! We will be celebrating the agency’s anniversary and it is therefore a special occasion to express my sincere appreciation and thanks to all those who have contributed to the amazing development of this unique autonomous operational entity since its beginning. I have to say that I am proud of heading this agency at this special moment not just because of the 30th anniversary, but also because it is a time of important developments for SatCen based on the growing level of ambition of the EU in the field of security defence and space, the fast growing user demand and the opportunities offered by technological developments in the Information Technology and Space domains.
Nannette Cazaubon: What will be the challenges? Sorin Ducaru: We currently face a double challenge: a continuously increasing demand for analysis services from our customers, who are mainly the Single Intelligence Analysis Capacity (SIAC), EU missions and operations, Member States and cooperating entities like those under Copernicus SEA. And at the same time, we feel the clear need to constantly adjust to the rapidly evolving security environment. Hartmut Bühl: I remember the day, 30 years ago when SatCen started under the Western European Union (WEU) with – for those days – a visionary concept. Sorin Ducaru: That is correct – SatCen was created in 1992 as a body of the Western European Union (WEU), incorporated 10 years later into the EU, and is now supporting the Union in the areas of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as other polices related to security such as border monitoring. It was already the original intention at the set-up to provide complex and actionable geospatial intelligence analysis, by exploiting satellite imagery and other relevant data. In fact, in the early 90s, this was indeed as you said, an extremely visionary decision, masterfully prepared by the strategic minds around the WEU Deputy Secretary, Mr Horst Holthoff. We still honour this legacy by having our main meeting room named after him.
“The European Union Satellite Centre (...) is a pillar of our strategic autonomy.” Florence Parly, French Minister of the Armed Forces, visit to SatCen, 24th September 2020
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photo: SARah © OHB System AG
Geospatial intelligence in support of the EU’s foreign, security and defence policy and beyond
