THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
The importance of a European Air Power solution Space and cyberspace have become ubiquitous in recent conflicts
by Dirk Zickora, Lieutenant Colonel (ret), Marketing Manager for Combat Air Systems, Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Munich
T
he European security landscape is at a crossroads. The range and nature of threats are proliferating, the capabilities of potential adversaries becoming increasingly sophisticated and the way wars are fought evolving. European nations need to recognize this reality and act collectively and decisively. The United States of America is currently the only western nation capable of projecting and delivering decisive and sustainable military power throughout the globe. In contrast, Europe and its individual nation states would be incapable of providing a sustainable conventional resistance to a near-peer threat without the US military component in NATO and its nuclear deterrence umbrella.
However, stretched budgets and a legacy of deferred investments have not improved the European capability landscape and will continue to exert a negative impact on the rejuvenation of Europe´s Air Power. The UK and France can back up certain shortfalls with their national nuclear deterrence capability, but it is only by expanding their air power capabilities that European nations will be able to provide sufficient support to their key NATO partner, the United States.
Space and cyberspace have become ubiquitous
The world has recently seen a fundamental shift in how wars are fought. The classic domains of warfare like land, air and sea began to coalesce decades ago, with the joint amphibious Availability of independently operable capabilities campaigns in the Pacific and the landings in Normandy and If a greater European role within the current transatlantic Southern Europe during World War II as early examples. Today, partnership were desired, it would require a skill set and an new domains are emerging and interacting with the established asset portfolio based on available and independently operable ones. Space and cyber warfare have become ubiquitous in capabilities. At the same time, fair burden sharing within NATO recent conflicts, sometimes in support functions, like satellite and meeting agreed and declared commitments, both in size imagery or communications, sometimes as fields of engageand over time, continues to require a high level of resources. ment in their own right with non-kinetic effects like disinformation campaigns, network denial cyber-attacks or malicious network infiltration. To prevail in these multi-domain operations, Lt Col (ret) Dirk Zickora it will be essential to provide a large enough is Marketing Manager Combat Air Systems at Airbus portfolio of assets to deliver the required effects Defence and Space GmbH, Manching. Born in 1975, he (kinetic or non-kinetic) and resist similar effects joined the Luftwaffe in 1995 to fly fighter jets for over from the adversary with the appropriate level of 22 years. Before joining Airbus, his last tours were Chief resilience. of the Flying Branch and Opposing Forces Coordinator Among other things, it is necessary to sustain (2013-2018) at the Tactical Leadership Programme in a robust European airborne Counter-A2AD1 Photo: private Albacete, Spain, and Staff Officer in the CJFAC Strategy capability, a skill currently to be found only in the Division at NATO HQ AIRCOM in Ramstein (2018-2019). arsenals of the US Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. Freedom of movement for a nation’s own forces is paramount not only during conflict.
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