The End of ,,Civilian Power"

In conjunction with the German Lufthansa, EADS wants to take over the freight for military transports of the NATO states. Russian Antonow airplanes are to be employed for strategic long distance transports in a joint enterprise. In the framework of the Istanbul NATO summit, an agreement for plans to realize the NATO initiative ,,strategic air transport"and the EU initiative ,,strategic airlift", both led by Germany, was signed.

War Drones

In mid-June the German-French arms group EADS and the French firm Dassault, signed an agreement for the joint development of unmanned war and surveillance drones. EADS will participate in a program for war drones, begun in 2003, for which the French government had already granted the central control to Dassault. EADS already holds 46% of the stock of the competitor who, however, is controlled by the Dassault family and values a certain amount of independence. Dassault now has control over the war drone UCAV, while EADS controls the surveillance drone EuroMale. The French armaments company Thales participates, and so do the Swedish Saab and the Greek HAI as junior partners.

Fighter Airplanes

In addition, the German-French armaments conglomerate intends to centralize the development of fighter planes. For now the British armaments corporation BAE Systems, which had already participated with the EADS branch Airbus, is to be more closely linked to this project. BAE Systems faces strong competition by EADS in its own country. ¹⁾Already at the end of last year, EADS had proposed to the governments of Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain, which participate in the ,,Euro fighter plane", to fuse its fighter plane division with BAE Systems and the Italian Alenia Aerospazio. Furthermore, EADS strives for closer cooperation in the fighter plane sector with the French Dassault which, at the moment, offers ,,Rafale"in competition with the ,,Eurofighter"and also manufactures the French Mirage fighter jets.

War Ships

In the meantime, France's biggest armaments industry, Thales, pushes for the development of a Europe-wide warship conglomerate and emphasizes its claim for a leading role in Europe's ship industry. A joint enterprise with the state shipyard DCN, for the construction of the new French aircraft carrier PA2, was recently established. In Great Britain Thales cooperates with BAE Systems in planning for two aircraft carriers and, in the meantime, is interested in a takeover of the British BAE shipyards. Thales also aspires to closer cooperation with such German companies as Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall DeTec or Nuernberg's Diehl Company. Meanwhile, Berlin demands that France should surrender its influence with Thales - Paris owns about 30% interest and thus plays a substantial role - and, in this case, link up with EADS. ²⁾

Far reaching hopes

The attempts to centralize correspond with the German strategies to concentrate war preparations and conduct of war, which envisions that troops and weapons arsenals of the EU member states will be subordinate to the command of the triumvirate ( ,,Trirektoire") consisting of German, French and British military. Accordingly, the European armaments industries are to be subordinated to the central leadership of a triumvirate: ,,When the trirektoire EU military coalition will lead in the name of the EU, the BAE Systems, EADS and Thales shall develop into a tritrektoire of the European armaments industry." ³⁾This armaments cooperation shall be intensified by establishment of the new European defense agency. The EU foreign ministers have already agreed on its extent in mid-June. ⁴⁾In a joint advertising campaign, EADS, Thales and BAE Systems are now demanding sufficient funding of the ,,defense agency".

Berlin's biggest foreign policy think tank, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik or foundation for science and policy (SWP), has ,,far reaching hopes for the improvement of European military capabilities"with the new agency. The SWP has the objective of politically achieving German access to nuclear arms as quickly as possible. ⁵⁾It is suggested that the ,,consolidation of the European armaments effort", which is necessary for the conversion of military ambitions, would have to be advanced by a smaller group of European states. German government advisors even demand the integration of British and French military sources with German capabilities: According to the SWP, the planning for ,,capability and military forces must be closely coordinated if not jointly developed"by the military ,,core"of the EU. ⁶⁾Undersecretary Kolbow of the defense ministry declared that Europe does not only have the goal to become a great military power. The EU focuses its unique potential: ,,The idea to view Europe as a pure civilian power will be behind us, European interests do not allow anymore for that conception of itself." ⁷⁾

1) See also Sentiments of Spring
2) See also ,,Ignorance concerning German interests"
3) See also Criminal
4) See also Honest Broker
5) See also Berlin stockpiles weapons grade Uranium
6) Ruestung in Europa. Zwaenge und Optionen zur Optimierung europaeischer Ruestungsprozesse, SWP-Studie 2004/S 25, Juni 2004; www.swp-berlin.org
7) Europaeer ruesten sich gegen die USA; Berliner Zeitung 13.07.2004

Sources:
Historic agreement in the European defence aeronautics industry; www.eads.com 14.06.2004
EADS und Dassault arbeiten zusammen; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 15.06.2004
Lufthansa und EADS wollen fuer die Nato fliegen; Financial Times Deutschland 29.06.2004
EADS sucht Verbuendete fuer Kampfflugzeuge; Financial Times Deutschland 08.07.2004
Thales forciert Plaene für Schiffbaukonzern; Financial Times Deutschland 08.07.2004
Schutz fuer die Ruestungsbranche; Berliner Zeitung 10.07.2004