EUROPE TRENDING TOWARD INCREASED USE OF SPACE IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000311 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR OES DEPT FOR EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EUN TSPA TSPL SUBJECT: EUROPE TRENDING TOWARD INCREASED USE OF SPACE IN SECURITY ROLES ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The debate over security and space policy in Europe tends to favor expanding the role of space for security, and military, purposes. The vast majority of those in attendance at a recent European Parliament workshop, representing the EU, the European Space Agency (ESA),and private think tanks, were in favor of expanding the definition of the role of space for European security missions. By contrast, only a single Parliamentarian-supported by just a handful nodding in approval-called for limitations on the use of space for military and security purposes. Overall, the participants conveyed that: -- Europe currently suffers from substantial shortcomings in its space capabilities, where resolution is crucial to future security missions and operations, possibly through the use of pooling resources from the individual member states. -- Europe's developing satellite navigation capabilities with Galileo should be used for planning and in executing European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) operations, as well as in use for civil protection in the face of natural disasters. -- The under development European satellite earth observation system, Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES),needs to take an active role in areas such as border protection for civil security. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) This workshop took place just a day before the Department of Defense announcement and a few days before the missile engagement of the uncontrolled U.S. spy satellite. It is not yet clear how these events will shape opinions in Europe, though overall European public response has been muted. The Commission has expressed no strong opinion while remaining appreciative of the prompt notification, though a French representative briefly indicated that France has a much more negative viewpoint and questions whether action was needed. USEU Econ Officers expect to hear more from European officials during meetings over the coming weeks. ¶3. (U) The European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defense (SEDE),chaired by Dr. Karl von Wogau, on February 14 hosted a workshop entitled "Space Policy and ESDP," to bring together government and industry to debate the role security should play in the European Defense Policy. The European Council General Secretariat was represented by Ms. Alda Silveira Reis, Deputy Director for Defense Aspects, DG E - External Economic Relation, Politico-Military Affairs. Geraldine Naja-Corbin, ESA's Policy Office of the Director-General; Tomas Valasek, Director of Foreign Policy and Defense at the Centre for European Reform and former official in the Slovak Ministry of Defense; and Alexander Bitter from the German Institute for International and Security affairs completed the panel for the session on the use of satellites in space for security purposes. -------------- Current European Space Capacity -------------- ¶4. (U) All participants decried the current state of European space assets, explaining that there are serious shortcomings in all areas. However, most expressed the view that the infrastructure exists to remedy these shortcomings, and through use of existing resources, it will be possible to build a true European satellite constellation. As it currently stands, there are no dedicated optical or radar imagery satellites devoted specifically to Europe. Instead, systems such as Helios in France (optical) or SAR-Lupe (radar) in Germany are operated and received data is controlled by the host countries, and as one participant explained, intelligence data is fiercely guarded by the owner. Europe is a little better in the field of telecommunications satellites, with an existing constellation of five satellites for protected telecoms (no further information given). However, Europe has no existing space-based infrastructure for missile defense, relying entirely on the U.S. ¶5. (U) Despite these limitations, Europe has two organizations dedicated to increasing European capacity in space-the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union Satellite Center (EUSC). The European Space Agency is not an EU controlled entity, but does have a well-defined relationship with the EU through the European Space Policy. Though ESA's membership includes non-EU members Switzerland and Norway and doesn't include the vast majority of Eastern BRUSSELS 00000311 002 OF 003 Europe, ESA develops some systems specifically for EU use and control-the most well-known of these is Galileo. ESA is exclusively an R&D organization and then hands over control to the final operators. It has a relatively large budget of EUR 3B/year which it receives exclusively from its members-France, Germany, and Italy alone make up over 60% of the funding. The EUSC, by contrast, is wholly controlled by the EU, as it is an independent agency of the Council. It is a satellite imagery analysis center and has the capacity to receive imagery from member state governments. Up to now, it has used almost exclusively commercially acquired imagery, but negotiations are in the works for imagery to be supplied from France (Helios II) in the coming months, Germany (SAR-Lupe),and Italy (Cosmo-Skymed). The EUSC can use the data to supply maps, intelligence, and geographic information to the Council for use in ESDP planning. ¶6. The Director of the EUSC has held meetings with senior officials of the National Geospatial Agency (NGA),and there are ongoing discussions aimed at establishing a collaborative relationship with the U.S. (Comment: We believe that this relationship could be in the long-term interests of the U.S. as part of our crisis management cooperation. Such a relationship might slow the push within the EU to develop costly and potentially duplicative capabilities. As the EUSC expands its access with respect to member state products, a strong U.S.-EUSC connection could also enable single-point access to all European imagery and imagery analysis capabilities and products. End comment.) -------------- Future Role of Space in Security Operations -------------- ¶7. (SBU) MEP von Wogau was very clear in his belief that European space assets should be made available for security purposes. On both Galileo and GMES, he expressed the view that capabilities should be applied equally to ESDP operations and to natural disasters such as tsunamis. The soldiers on the ground should have all technical capabilities at their disposal to perform the mission, and particularly in the case of GMES, Europe needs to emphasize the word "security" in its title, according to Wogau. MEP Phillipe Morillon, as did several other attendees, echoed these statements, stating that Europe "shouldn't turn a blind eye" to space for the military. The lone dissenting voice, belonging to MEP Tobias Pfluger, challenged these statements, expressing that a clear red line needs to be established, preventing the use of space for any military purposes. He praised the Russian and Chinese efforts to establish a treaty for the peaceful use of space, noting that "naturally" the U.S. is opposed to such an idea. (Comment: Though MEP Pfluger's comments are occasionally echoed in the European press, during this meeting, only a handful of attendees appeared to be in agreement. The vast majority followed the line of MEP von Wogau. End comment.) ¶8. (U) Surveillance and ballistic missile defense (BMD) are the two areas Europe most needs to improve, according to most attendees. Surveillance was listed as most important as Europe continues to become involved in more complex military operations around the globe. In ESDP missions-there are more than a dozen expected in 2008-such as EUFOR in Chad, kowledge of the operational space is increasingl important, and surveillance from space, throgh the use of optical/radar imagery satellites or satellites to intercept hostile communications, will become more critical to mission success. Europe therefore, according to Mr. Valasek from the Centre for European Reform, should pool its resources to enable the highest level of capability for the least cost to the European citizen. Council General Secretariat official Ms. Silveira Reis touted the capabilities of the EUSC, explaining it is prepared to receive government imagery in support of these missions. ¶9. (U) On BMD, Mr. Bitter from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs explained that much of Europe is not at all prepared for a ballistic missile attack. Existing U.S. ground based radar sites do not cover the majority of the continent, and even in the case of a new site in the Czech Republic, southeast Europe is still at some risk. Therefore, Europe needs to develop space-based ballistic missile detection systems, possibly similar to the BRUSSELS 00000311 003 OF 003 U.S. DSP system for missile launch detection. There are two proposals underway, one for low-Earth orbit (LEO) and one for geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The LEO system, proposed by OHB Technology, proposes placing a large number (10-30) of satellites in orbit to guarantee persistent coverage. By contrast, EADS-Astrium has proposed a GEO system, to be funded primarily by France, to develop two to four satellites in GEO for launch detection. According to Mr. Bitter, neither system has been fully approved as of now. -------------- Outlook -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The opinions displayed during this workshop underline a rapidly growing trend throughout Europe toward increasing the role of space assets in security operations. This idea is well documented through the history and debate of Galileo, as Europe looks to reduce dependence on the United States in an area it considers to be of strategic importance. The same argument appears to be coming to the forefront in discussions about the use and development of intelligence and missile defense satellites. As the number and complexity of ESDP operations continues to grow, the need for readily-available imagery for operational planning will also increase. The number of dissenting opinions also seems to be decreasing rapidly. Additionally, as the cost of new global satellite systems becomes prohibitively expensive as mentioned during the workshop, particularly for the smaller countries, it is to Europe's advantage to pool resources to gain the most capability for the smallest cost to the taxpayer. WOHLERS .