[A-List] The end of NATO? EU developments

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

I'll respond to certain questions raised under this thread in recent
days when I get enough time. For the time being, here's more evidence of
what an industrious conduit Mr Bruce can be in these interesting times
in which we live. If anything it corroborates some earlier points about
the UK's desire to spread the cost of its police actions.


Europe develop satellite guidance system

IAN BRUCE
The Herald, 18 March 2002 

      EUROPE'S leaders have approved the
      development of a £500m satellite navigational
      system which could give the planned Euro-army
      the ability to conduct a hi-tech military campaign
      without reliance on US equipment.

      The Galileo project, a series of 40 satellites
      intended primarily for civilian use, is designed to
      provide pinpoint navigational data as an alternative
      to the US global positioning system.

      The White House considers that an independent
      EU force could undermine the Nato alliance and
      there was pressure on Tony Blair, the prime
      minister, into demanding at the weekend's
      Barcelona economic summit that Galileo be used
      "only for civilian purposes".

      However, the system could easily be used to help
      target cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs,
      which are reliant on satellite positioning fixes to
      guarantee accuracy in military strikes.

      The Kosovo campaign showed up the glaring
      weaknesses in Europe's military capabilities
      compared to those of the US, and the limited use of
      allied assets in Afghanistan has merely reinforced
      the technology gap.

      Military analysts say the proposed Euro-army
      remains deficient in 55 of 140 key areas, notably
      satellite guidance, heavy-lift transport aircraft, and
      stocks of precision-guided munitions, and remains
      incapable of mounting major operations without
      massive American support.

      An attempt to build a common European troop
      transport aircraft, the A400M, seems set to founder
      because Germany cannot afford to pay for the
      batch it is committed to order.

      Even if finance can be arranged, it will be eight to
      10 years before the heavy-lift transport enters
      service.

      A recent US Rand Corporation think-tank study
      claimed that EU countries would have to spend up
      to £40bn over the next decade just to keep pace
      with technological advances to allow them to fight
      effectively beside US troops, far less operate
      independently. European members of Nato
      currently invest £100bn on defence, but only 25%
      of the £20,000 per soldier spent by the US on
      research and development.

      The EU goal is to be able to field a 60,000-strong
      combat force for non-Nato missions, deploy it
      within two weeks, and keep it in the field for up to a
      year. The fledgling force has only a headquarters
      and the promise of troop contingents so far.

      Its first test is likely to come in Macedonia, where
      separatist Albanian rebels are showing signs of
      preparation for a spring campaign and international
      peacekeepers, who intervened last year to end the
      bloodshed, are poised to leave.

      The UK's top brass have already told government
      ministers that the British army is too overstretched
      to become in-volved in a deteriorating security
      situation in the Balkan state.

      They have also expressed fears of an
      embarrassing failure for any EU peacekeeping
      mission and predicted that it might have to be
      rescued by Nato, reinforcing American arguments.

      Final approval for the Galileo funding is to be
      granted at an EU meeting on March 26, and the
      satellites would then be built and launched over the
      next few years.

Full article at:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/18-3-19102-0-24-46.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx