December 12, 2023 | International, Land
December 20, 2018 | International, Aerospace
Future EU space programme
Council agrees its position on future EU space programme
The EU is establishing its future space policy programme for the years 2021-2027. EU ambassadors meeting in Coreper on 19 December agreed on the Council's position on the draft regulation on an EU space programme. This position enables negotiations to begin with the European Parliament.
The agreed text does not cover financial and horizontal issues which are being discussed as part of the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the period 2021 to 2027.
Space plays an increasingly important role in our everyday life. Space-related inventions and services are already changing the way we live and work. The European Union is determined to keep the leading edge and the place it deserves in the global space economy.
Norbert Hofer Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria
The new regulation will ensure:
- high-quality, up-to-date and secure space-related data and services;
- greater socio-economic benefits from the use of such data and services, such as increased growth and job creation in the EU;
- enhanced security and strategic autonomy of the EU;
- a stronger role for the EU as a leading actor in the space sector.
It will achieve this by :
- simplifying and streamlining the existing EU legal framework on space policy;
- providing the EU with an adequate space budget to continue and improve on existing space flagship programmes such as EGNOS, Galileo and Copernicus, as well as monitor space hazards under the ‘space situational awareness' programme (SSA), and cater for access to secure satellite communications for national authorities (GOVSATCOM);
- establishing the rules for governance of the EU space programme;
- standardising the security framework of the space programme.
Next steps
This agreement opens the way for the Presidency to begin negotiations with the European Parliament with the aim of reaching a rapid adoption of the regulation. The European Parliament adopted its negotiating mandate on 13 December 2018.
Background
On June 2018, the Commission presented its proposal for a Regulation for a space programme for the European Union. The proposed regulation is part of the follow-up to the Commission's Communication on a Space Strategy for Europe (SSE).
The Commission proposal suggests an overall budget for the programme of €16 billion in current prices for the period 2021-2027 with the following indicative breakdown: €9.7 billion for Galileo and EGNOS, €5.8 billion for Copernicus and €0.5 billion for SSA and GOVSATCOM.
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March 12, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Boeing unveils new drone for Australia
Get a look at Boeing's "loyal wingman" type drone unveiled at Avalon 2019. https://www.defensenews.com/newsletters/tv-next-episode/2019/03/04/boeing-unveils-new-drone-for-australia
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November 23, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
CIA awards intel community’s cloud contract to several vendors
Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has awarded its new multivendor cloud contract to a few companies, the spy organization confirmed Friday. Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, IBM and Oracle all confirmed to C4ISRNET they had been awarded the CIA's Commercial Cloud Enterprise contract, which will serve as the intelligence community's cloud environment. NextGov, which first broke the news, reported Google as an additional winner. The CIA declined to confirm specific vendors to C4ISRNET. “We are excited to work with the multiple industry partners awarded the Intelligence Community (IC) Commercial Cloud Enterprise (C2E) Cloud Service Provider (CSP) contract and look forward to utilizing, alongside our IC colleagues, the expanded cloud capabilities resulting from this diversified partnership,” CIA spokesperson Chelsea Robinson said. The CIA declined to provide the contract value, though contract documents obtained by NextGov in 2019 stated it could be valued in the “tens of billions.” The draft request for proposals, released in February 2020 and obtained by C4ISRNET, was considering a 15-year performance period, a five-year base and two five-year options. The C2E contract is a follow-on award to the intel community's Commercial Cloud Services contact. AWS was the sole provider for that contract, which was worth $600 million. “We are honored to continue to support the intelligence community as they expand their transformational use of cloud computing. Together, we're building innovative solutions across all classification levels that deliver operational excellence and allow for missions to be performed faster and more securely,” an AWS spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Microsoft, which won the Defense Department's single-award, controversial Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract, said the company was “eager” to work with the intel community. “We applaud the intelligence community in advancing its cloud strategy to the next phase in order to take advantage of the latest commercially available cloud technologies,” the AWS spokesperson said. Jay Bellisimo, IBM's general manager for the U.S. public and federal market, said that the company “is proud to further its collaboration with the U.S. federal government.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/11/20/cia-awards-intel-communitys-cloud-contract-to-several-vendors/