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Euro-Atlantic Security After the Prague Summit

International Seminar of Advanced Studies
Rome, Chamber of Deputies, December 3, 2002

Dr. Bernard Brown

MBDA Italy

 


An Industrial Point of View - Implications of the Prague Summit
for the European advanced-technology defence industry
 
 
 

Significant elements of the agreements
 

  • NATO is undertaking new efforts to transform its capabilities.
     
  • Its enlargement will provide new opportunities for collaboration.
     
  • The member States have made new commitments, including the constitution of an enlarged multilateral force.
     
  • As well as considering terrorism, the Prague summit emphasised the dangers of the full range of missile threats, to military forces, as well as to population and territory. These represent a growing and, in part, a new challenge, as potential means of delivery of weapons of mass destruction.
     
     
     

Commentary – Industrial Situation
 
 

One of the driving factors behind these changes is the need to fill the gap between US and European contributions. For Europe, this implies investment, and to ensure effectiveness, it means focussing spending where excellence can best be sustained.
 
Just as NATO is transforming itself, so is industry. The company I represent, MBDA, is a major player in the defence systems industry worldwide. MBDA is new (one year old) a multi-national organisation of 10,000 people in Italy, France, the UK and USA, with shareholdings in Germany and Spain. It is a fusion of previously national companies. The aim of this transformation was to reach the same economies of scale as large US companies, to achieve higher efficiency and harness a wide range of capabilities, improving response to customers' changing needs.
 
European industry has strong technology and valid products, particularly for air defence, and in a competitive market MBDA is in a leading position, with a wide range of systems covering the land, sea and air domains. Its typically European heritage also means that MBDA is the established leader in delivering complex multinational development programmes. International collaboration is at the centre of our activity and we can draw on a range of diverse models of cooperation, suitable for each individual case, such as for METEOR, Storm Shadow / Scalp, and the ASTER family, living through new organisational structures the complexity of representing national and multinational interests.
 
Defence Capability
 
Active defence is one of the major pillars for response to proliferation of the missile threat.
MBDA is working on several important programmes:
 

  • FSAF is a family of air defence systems for Italy and France. SAMP/T is the ground-based element, which provides excellent performance against conventional targets, and defeats the new threats – cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles. SAAM is the naval system for Ship Local Area Defence. Both use a common missile: Aster.
     
  • PAAMS will deliver unique naval Area Air Defence capability, adaptive to the requirements of the participating Navies: UK, France and Italy. It too uses Aster and has specific capability against cruise missiles with an inherent growth potential to defeat tactical ballistic missiles.
     
  • MEADS is an integrated Air and Missile Defence System under development between the USA, Germany & Italy for ground applications with an advanced capability to defeat the new classes of target. This programme is managed through the NATO agency NAMEADSMA.
     
  • MBDA has a leading role in the Feasibility Study for NATO which will soon be completed, concerning Active Layered Defence against the new threats; and intends to make a significant contribution to the proposed extension.
     
     

The systems mentioned are designed to provide protection of forces as part of international missions, so could well contribute to the new reaction forces. MBDA's wide range of defence systems is the basis for a high level of interoperability. As a multinational company with strong roots in collaboration, it can contribute to enhanced integration between defence systems, in all aspects.
 
Conclusion
 
Further strengthening of NATO's defence capability will require sustained efforts. As the threat becomes more complex, and protection of ever-wider areas is required, so we will need to improve performance by further extending the advanced technology and experience we possess in air and missile defence. Our industrial strategy ensures the development of new capabilities for the European arm of NATO, to preserve a threshold of advantage with respect to the danger posed by the threat, based on the intentions of the States to continue their investments.
 
Cooperation within NATO, and in particular, transatlantic cooperation, is an important way of achieving better understanding and integrating NATO-wide capabilities. Specialisation within an agreed framework while maintaining strategic prerogatives ensures maximum value is obtained.
 
We therefore welcome the results of the Prague summit, and look forward to making a solid contribution to further enhancing defence capability against the new threats, ready to act responsively to the commitment of the States.