This article outlines the military equipment owned by the member states of the European Union (EU), multinational procurement and EU-level facilitation of such procurement.
The European Union (EU) consists of 28 member states. Each member state is party to the founding treaties of the union and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. Unlike members of most international organisations, the member states of the EU are subjected to binding laws in exchange for representation within the common legislative and judicial institutions. Member states must agree unanimously for the EU to adopt policies concerning defence and foreign policy. Subsidiarity is a founding principle of the EU.
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi) and an estimated population of about 513 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. For travel within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called allies. Alliances form in many settings, including political alliances, military alliances, and business alliances. When the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, such associations may also be called allied powers, especially when discussing World War I or World War II.
The Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) is a configuration of the Council of the European Union that convenes once a month. Meetings bring together the Foreign Ministers of the member states. Ministers responsible for European Affairs, Defence, Development or Trade also participate depending on the items on agenda. The configuration is unique in that is chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) rather than the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The European Defence Fund may facilitate the multinational procurement and development of equipment, which is owned by member states: The European Border and Coast Guard is the only part of the CSDP that is able to purchase its own equipment.[1]
The European Defence Fund is a fund managed by the European Union (EU) for coordinating and increasing national investment in defence research and improve interoperability between national forces. It was proposed in 2016 by President Jean-Claude Juncker and established in 2017. The fund has two stands; research and development & acquisition. In July 2018, The European Commission announces that the budget for 2021-2027 will be €13 billion.
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with the border and coast guards of Schengen Area member states.
Since 2011 the European Border and Coast Guard has been able to purchase its own equipment (e.g. vessels, communications technology), for use in its work to patrol the external borders of the Schengen Area.[2]
The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. The area mostly functions as a single jurisdiction for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement.
European multilateral defence procurement refers to the collective armaments purchasing policies of EU member states.
Traditionally European countries have either developed their own weapon systems or bought 'off the shelf' systems usually NATO-sponsored from the United States or from the Soviet Union, now from Russia. In the modern era, reduced military budgets and increasing complexity make it difficult for most countries to develop their own weapon systems.[citation needed] Furthermore, identical projects in differing countries were recognised as a waste of resources. However the same countries often do not wish to purchase American systems because of the perception of a loss of sovereignty and the profits (and jobs) going to American companies.[citation needed] Likewise they hope to establish a profitable export competing the American one.[3]
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, and over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.
Therefore, some European nations are attempting to pool their resources to create multinational programmes to create a more independent and competitive capability. The European Defence Agency was established in 2004 to create such a stronger European market for military equipment.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the High Representative (HR/VP), and reports to the Council. The EDA was established on 12 July 2004 and is based in Brussels, Belgium.
The European Defence Fund is an EU fund for coordinating and increasing national investment in defence equipment research and improve interoperability between national forces. It was proposed in 2016 by PresidentJean-Claude Juncker and established in 2017 to a value of €5.5 billion per year. The fund has two stands; research (€90 million until the end of 2019 and €500 million per year after 2020) and development & acquisition (€500 million in total for 2019–20 then €1 billion per year after 2020).[4]
The fund will co-finance 20% of eligible defence projects. Projects based on the CSDP's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) qualify for higher co-financing rates.[6]
European countries also purchase a great deal of hardware from the US, and many former Eastern bloc countries have a great deal of legacy equipment produced by the USSR and other Warsaw Pact countries.
Industry
While European military budgets remain fragmented and massive duplication in research and development exists, the European military industry has made some moves towards consolidation. British Aerospace was widely expected to merge with Germany’s DASA to form the first major European military-industrial giant. Instead in 1999 BAe merged with another British company, GEC's military-industrial businesses (GEC-Marconi), to form BAE Systems which has tended to focus on the Anglo-American market. As a result, in 2000, DASA merged with Aerospatiale-Matra to form EADS. Further consolidation of the smaller military-industrial firms cannot be ruled out.
In 2015, the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and French Nexter merged under a joint holding company provisionally named Honostor NV. Both companies are major producers of military land systems. [7]
Type 212 submarine, equipping the German, Italian navies, Type 214 submarine equipping the Greek and Portuguese navies, S-80 class submarine equipping the Spanish Navy
There are several examples where one country continues to pursue purely national programmes because collaboration would be unacceptable or undesirable. For example, both the UK and France continue to develop and operate independent nuclear deterrent. Likewise France's desire for military and industrial independence has motivated its continued pursuit of high-technology projects, e.g. Dassault Rafale.
Multinational programmes can fail because of disagreements about price or capability. For example, while the UK terminated its collaboration with France and Italy on the next generation frigate (Horizon CNGF) and started a national Type 45 programme. However the warships will share some systems, primarily the MBDA Aster missile.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under pressure from President Bill Clinton to select Raytheon's future missile to arm the Eurofighter,[8] however the UK government selected the European Meteor air-to-air missile. The Meteor could be deemed riskier, however the Meteor armed Typhoon will not be subject to U.S. export controls and MBDA now has a missile product with no real competition from American manufacturers.[citation needed]
Likewise European governments were actively dissuaded by the US Department of Defence from continuing the A400M project, the Pentagon argued that the Lockheed C-130J and Boeing C-17 provided all the capability European governments needed and were already flying.[citation needed] The DOD also argued that to spend limited budgetary resources on such duplication was foolish. The previous generation American fighter plane (F-16) was widely sold throughout Europe.[citation needed]
Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders has called the difficulties in coordinating European investment in the A400M program a "horror", and said "I am determined, at least for my company, not to ever again walk into such a program".[9]
French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel have signalled their countries intention to co-operate on the development of a future combat aircraft to be produced as a replacement for Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon.[10][11]
Code of Conduct on Defence Procurement
The European Union has adopted a code of conduct[12] with the objective to inject transparency and competition into the military procurement. It is administered by the EDA and under its scope are contracts under Article 346 of TFEU, of at least €1 million and with the exclusions of weapons of mass destruction, cryptographic equipment and other procurements.
As of 2009 the code is adopted by Norway and all EDA members except Romania, who may join later.[13]
List of member states' equipment
Naval forces
The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is the largest commissioned warship in service with the UK Royal Navy, one of the EU Member States' naval forces.
The combined component strength of the naval forces of member states is some 563 commissioned warships. Of those in service, 4 are fleet carriers, the largest of which is the 70,600 tonne Queen Elizabeth-class carrier and one has a nuclear propulsion, the French Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. The EU also has 5 amphibious assault ships and 25 amphibious support ships in service. Of the EU's 63 submarines, 21 are nuclear-powered submarines while 42 are conventional attack submarines.
Operation Atalanta (formally European Union Naval Force Somalia) is the first ever (and still ongoing) naval operation of the European Union. It is part of a larger global action by the EU in the Horn of Africa to deal with the Somali crisis. As of January 2011 twenty-three EU nations participate in the operation.
Guide to table:
Ceremonial vessels, research vessels, supply vessels, training vessels, and icebreakers are not included.
The table only counts warships that are commissioned (or equivalent) and active.
Surface vessels displacing less than 200 tonnes are not included, regardless of other characteristics.
The CFE treaty only includes equipment geographically stationed within Europe. Equipment overseas on operations are not counted.
The "main battle tank" category also includes tank destroyers (such as the Italian B1 Centauro) or any self-propelled armoured fighting vehicle, capable of heavy firepower. According to the CFE treaty.
The "armoured fighting vehicle" category includes any armoured vehicle primarily designed to transport infantry and equipped with an automatic cannon of at least 20mm calibre. According to the CFE treaty.
The "artillery" category includes self-propelled or towed howitzers and mortars of 100mm calibre and above. Other types of artillery are not included regardless of characteristics. According to the CFE treaty.
The "attack helicopter" category includes any rotary wing aircraft armed and equipped to engage targets or equipped to perform other military functions (such as the Apache or the Wildcat). According to the CFE treaty.
The air forces of EU member states operate a wide range of military systems and hardware. This is primarily due to the independent requirements of each member state and also the national defence industries of some member states. However such programmes like the Eurofighter Typhoon and Eurocopter Tiger have seen many European nations design, build and operate a single weapons platform. 60% of overall combat fleet was developed and manufactured by member states, 32% are US-origin, but some of these were assembled in Europe, while remaining 8% are soviet-made aircraft. As of 2014, it is estimated that the European Union had around 2,000 serviceable combat aircraft (fighter aircraft and ground-attack aircraft).[35]
The EUs air-lift capabilities are evolving with the future introduction of the Airbus A400M (another example of EU defence cooperation). The A400M is a tactical airlifter with strategic capabilities.[36] Around 140 are initially expected to be operated by 6 member states (UK, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Spain and Belgium).
Guide to tables:
The tables are sourced from figures provided by Flight International for the year 2014.
Aircraft are grouped into three main types (indicated by colors): red for combat aircraft, green for aerial refueling aircraft, and grey for strategic and tactical transport aircraft.
The two "other" columns include additional aircraft according to their type sorted by colour (i.e. the "other" category in red includes combat aircraft, while the "other" category in grey includes both aerial refueling and transport aircraft). This was done because it was not feasible allocate every aircraft type its own column.
Other aircraft such as trainers, helicopters, UAVs and reconnaissance or surveillance aircraft are not included in the below tables or figures.
↑ The responsibility of collective selv-defence within the CSDP is based on Article 42.7 of TEU, which states that this responsibility does not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain member states, referring to policies of nautrality. See Neutral country§European Union for discussion on this subject. Article 42.2 furthermore specifies that NATO shall be the main forum for the implementation of collective self-defence for EU member states that are also NATO members.
↑ Baumgardner, Neil (1999-09-16). "Raytheon Offers Joint Development of New Missile with UK". Defense Daily. Phillips Business Information, Inc.|access-date= requires |url= (help)
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