Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS311
2008-02-28 16:26:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

EUROPE TRENDING TOWARD INCREASED USE OF SPACE IN

Tags:  ECON EUN TSPA TSPL 
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VZCZCXRO0015
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHYG
DE RUEHBS #0311/01 0591626
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281626Z FEB 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNMUC/EU CANDIDATE STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
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

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
.