February 5, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Brexit turns up the heat on access rules to EU defense coffers

By: Sebastian Sprenger

COLOGNE, Germany — European leaders should modify rules to include Britain and the United States in their defense-cooperation efforts, ending a simmering dispute that could turn toxic over time, according to the director general of the European Union Military Staff.

“We will find a way [on] how to engage the United States and other third-party states,” Lt. Gen. Esa Pulkkinen told Defense News in an interview in Washington last week. But he cautioned that the unresolved issue could become a “permanent” thorn in the side of relations with the United States, in particular.

At issue are the conditions for access to the multibillion-dollar European Defence Fund and its associated collaboration scheme, the Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO. The funds are meant to nurse the nascent defense capabilities of the continent's member states, with the idea that NATO would be strengthened in the process.

Officials have left the door open for the U.K., which recently left the EU, as well as its defense companies to partake in individual projects, given the country's importance as a key European provider of military capabilities. But the exact terms have yet to be spelled out, requiring a balancing act between framing member states as primary PESCO beneficiaries while providing a way in for key allies.

Defense officials in Washington previously criticized the EU initiative, complaining that it would needlessly shut out American contractors. European leaders countered that the program is first and foremost meant to streamline the bloc's disparate military capabilities, stressing that avenues for trans-Atlantic cooperation exist elsewhere.

“EDF and PESCO isn't everything in the world,” Pulkkinen said in Washington. “We are not going to violate any U.S. defense industrial interests.

“The defense industry is already so globalized, they will find a way [on] how to work together.”

While European governments have circulated draft rules for third-party access to the EU's defense-cooperation mechanism, a final ruling is not expected until discussions about the bloc's budget for 2021-2027 are further along, according to issue experts.

Officials at the European Defence Agency, which manages PESCO, are taking something of a strategic pause to determine whether the dozens of projects begun over the past few years are delivering results.

Sophia Besch, a senior research fellow with the Centre for European Reform, said the jury is still out over that assessment. “The big question is whether the European Union can prove that the initiatives improve the operational capabilities,” she said.

Aside from the bureaucratic workings of the PESCO scheme, the German-French alliance — seen as an engine of European defense cooperation — has begun to sputter, according to Besch.

In particular, Berlin and Paris cannot seem to come together on operational terms — whether in the Sahel or the Strait of Hormuz — at a time when Europe's newfound defense prowess runs the risk of becoming a mostly theoretical exercise, Besch said.

The EU members' ambitions remain uneven when it comes to defense, a situation that is unlikely to change anytime soon, according to a recent report by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

“The dispute around the concept of strategic autonomy has not led to any constructive consensus, and it will likely affect debates in the future,” the document stated. “Member states and the EU institutions will continue to promote different concepts that encapsulate their own vision of defense cooperation.”

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/02/04/brexit-turns-up-the-heat-on-access-rules-to-eu-defense-coffers

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February 5, 2020 | International, C4ISR

L3Harris looks to shed as much as 10 percent of company
By: Jill Aitoro WASHINGTON — L3Harris Technologies could divest up to 10 percent of the company, according to CEO Bill Brown, as its recent decision to sell its airport security business for $1 billion is seen as the first of more transactions expected to refine the firm's portfolio. L3Harris signed a definitive agreement to sell the business unit to Leidos, according to an announcement Tuesday. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2020, barring any issues tied to regulatory approvals. Proceeds from the divestiture are expected to be used to repurchase shares and offset dilution. The deal is part of a larger strategy to reshape the portfolio, focusing on what Brown described on a call with analysts as “high-margin, high-growth, technology-differentiated businesses where we can win and generate attractive returns.” “Although this is the first and largest transaction we're contemplating, our portfolio-shaping process is ongoing and may ultimately result in 8-10 percent of total company revenue being divested over time,” he said. The company's 2019 revenue of $18.1 billion could translate to as much as $1.8 billion in divestitures. Brown told Defense News in June 2019 — one month before the merger of Harris and L3 Technologies was completed — about plans to divest a “pretty significant” piece of the business in the first six months as a single company. “Anytime you put two companies with two portfolios together and you rethink what strategy you want to accomplish, there's going to be some pieces of the portfolio at the back end of the bus,” Brown said at the time. “We have to look at where we want to put our management time, capital, and [research and development] investment. We can't put it on pieces that might not be as strategic." Brown told analysts that the deal would not impact the company's $3 billion free cash flow target in 2022. That in theory would set up L3Harris for a sizable acquisition down the road, should the company choose to go in that direction. A company spokesman could not comment on the specific defense-nondefense split post divestiture, but L3Harris would presumably see a larger slice of the business focusing on defense opportunities. In the 2019 Defense News Top 100 list of the largest defense companies, Harris and L3 reported 72 percent and 81 percent of revenue as defense-focused, respectively. L3Harris reported $18.1 billion in fiscal 2019 revenue. Once the deal with Leidos closes, the airport security businesses' $500 million in annual revenue would transition off the books. That said, L3Harris is forecasting 5-7 percent revenue growth in 2020 — so it won't be a straight reduction. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/02/04/l3harris-looks-to-shed-as-much-as-10-percent-of-company
January 14, 2022 | International, C4ISR

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Au sein de l'Agence de l'Innovation de la Défense, « Red Team » et « Blue Team » imaginent et répondent aux scénarios catastrophes de demain. Les équipes de France Info se sont entretenues avec le directeur de l'agence, Emmanuel Chiva, directeur de l'agence qui pilote l'innovation en matière de défense, dont l'une des missions est d'anticiper les menaces, et de travailler sur les moyens de s'en prémunir. Imaginer les conflits d'un futur lointain au sein de l'Agence de l'innovation de Défense, c'est le rôle de la Red Team et de ses auteurs de science-fiction. « C'est une dizaine d'auteurs, (...) et nous avons aussi un opérateur, Paris Sciences & Lettres, qui nous apporte toute la méthodologie », indique Emmanuel Chiva. En face, la Blue Team, « composée d'officiers, d'ingénieurs, de la DGA, de spécialistes des relations internationales du ministère des Armées (...) des gens qui doivent imaginer le moyen de répondre aux menaces de la Red Team », détaille-t-il. L'agence possède un comité d'éthique de la Défense, « dans le but de se fixer des lignes rouges » rassure Emmanuel Chiva. Parmi les scénarios, on trouve un travail sur les pirates du futur avec « la création d'une nation flottante », D'autres scénarios, en revanche, ceux qui peuvent « exposer des vulnérabilités », restent confidentiels. Franceinfo du 13 janvier
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Four questions with France's military cyber mission lead
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Brexit turns up the heat on access rules to EU defense coffers

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Four questions with France's military cyber mission lead France foresees its future military force as heavily relying on systems of systems, whose networks are interconnected across the battlefield.

Four questions with France's military cyber mission lead
France foresees its future military force as heavily relying on systems of systems, whose networks are interconnected across the battlefield.