Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS42
2008-01-10 16:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

EU: GALILEO READY FOR TAKEOFF; 2008 U.S.-EU SPACE

Tags:  EUN TSPA TSPL 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3571
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RUEHROV
DE RUEHBS #0042/01 0101618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101618Z JAN 08 ZDK MULTI SVCS
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 000042 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OES/SAT
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EUN TSPA TSPL
SUBJECT: EU: GALILEO READY FOR TAKEOFF; 2008 U.S.-EU SPACE
POLICY DIALOGUE PREPARATIONS

BRUSSELS 00000042 001.2 OF 004


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 000042

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OES/SAT
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EUN TSPA TSPL
SUBJECT: EU: GALILEO READY FOR TAKEOFF; 2008 U.S.-EU SPACE
POLICY DIALOGUE PREPARATIONS

BRUSSELS 00000042 001.2 OF 004



1. (SBU) Summary: Ken Hodgkins, State Department Director
for OES
Office of Space and Advanced Technology, discussed with
European
Commission officials U.S. perspectives on the future of GPS
and
Galileo Cooperation, Europe's next steps in the development of
Galileo, and the 2008 U.S.-EU Space Policy Dialogue. European
officials delivered the following key messages during the
meetings:
-- The Galileo satellite navigation system has been fully
approved by both the European Council and the European
Parliament,
and though the budget and timeline are tight, Galileo should
reach
full operational capability by the end of 2013. The European
Commission will be the owner/sponsor of the program, with
oversight
by the Council and Parliament, the European Space Agency will
act as
contractor, and GSA will develop future markets and
applications.
-- The U.S. is a key partner in space, and the current
strong
cooperation on GPS-Galileo and Space Policy should continue
and
evolve as we move to the future. Specifically, there look to
be
opportunities for the U.S. and EU to approach global issues,
including 3rd country space programs and security topics,
with a
united front.
-- With the Commission's control of Galileo, China
should play
no role in the technological or programmatic development of
Galileo,
and will be relegated to cooperation only on specific Galileo
applications to be used in China.
-- The Commission will host the U.S.-EU Space Policy
dialogue
in April 2008 and will deliver a draft agenda to the U.S. in
the
first weeks of January. End summary.


2. (U) Director Hodgkins met in Brussels with Fotis
Karamitsos,
Eero Ailio, and Jeremie Godet from the Commission's Galileo
Unit;
Pedro Pedreira, Executive Director of the European GNSS
Supervisory
Authority (GSA); and Paul Weissenberg and Andras Roboz, from
the
Commission's Space Policy and Coordination Unit.

--------------
Galileo Approved
--------------


3. (SBU) The European Heads of State formally approved the
financing and governance structure of Galileo during the
European

Council on December 14. This paves the way for full funding
through
2013 when Galileo is expected, assuming no further delays, to
be at
full operational capability. (Comment: Fotis Karamitsos,
Director
for Logistics, Innovation, Co-modality, and Maritime
Transport in
the Transport and Energy Directorate, said that the schedule
and the
funding are very tight, and though he expects that the
project can
be performed on time and on budget, he implied it is very
possible
that there will be cost and schedule overruns. End comment.)
The
Council decision was just a formality, as the European
Parliament
and the Council meetings of the transport ministers and the
finance
ministers earlier in December resolved all problems.


4. (SBU) A key issue during negotiations was the new
governance
structure for the development of Galileo. Director Karamitsos

BRUSSELS 00000042 002.9 OF 004


explained that since the financing is coming from public
funds, the
Commission will be the owner/sponsor of Galileo and in charge
of
most major decision making, with the Council and the
Parliament in
an oversight role. The European Space Agency (ESA) will act
as
prime contractor and will perform the delegation of how to
perform
tasks, make calls for tender, and will select companies as
contractors. GSA, which was created as the oversight body
between
the Commission and industry during the time of the now-failed
public-private partnership (PPP),will remain in an assistant
role
to the Commission. Karamitsos detailed, later confirmed by
GSA's
Pedro Pedreira, that GSA will also have responsibility for the
preparation of future markets and applications. It is not
yet clear
who will have ultimate control over the day to day
functioning of
the satellites, and that decision will be made closer to 2013.
Karamitsos explained that while the overarching governance
decisions
are complete, there are still several details to be worked
out,
specifically issues related to the handover of the project
from ESA
to the Commission, and it will take until April or May 2008
before
ESA will be able to make the calls for tender.

--------------
Future Galileo Cooperation with U.S.
--------------


5. (SBU) During the meetings, European officials all
stressed the
need for continued close cooperation with the U.S.
Specifically,
Director Karamitsos stated that we need to publicize the
strong
cooperation between the EU and the U.S., and he suggested
that a
joint outreach event be organized. With an eye towards the
evolving
relationship, during the meeting with Director Karamitsos, it
was
requested that there be further discussion about expanding
the scope
of some of the Working Groups under the GPS-Galileo Agreement.
Under WG-A, Jeremie Godet opined that while the current
mandate did
not include discussion of how to approach 3rd parties, it may
be
worthwhile to investigate expanding the mandate. (Comment:
The aim
of this discussion very clearly was to find a venue by which
the
Commission could discuss with the U.S. the issue of China and
Chinese frequencies on the Compass SatNav system. The
Commission is
very concerned about frequency overlap with Compass,
particularly as
it pertains to Galileo's secure PRS signal. Karamitsos and
Godet
both expressed appreciation at U.S. efforts during
international
meetings such as the ITU, but explained that they believed
bilateral
pressure will work best in getting China to cooperate. End
comment.)


6. (SBU) Responding to the Commission questions about
Working
Groups, Director Hodgkins expressed a need to ensure that the
Working Groups stay within their general themes, and that it
may be
worth having periodic higher level meetings to discuss the
status
and undertakings of each of the Working Groups to determine if
changes are needed.


7. (SBU) Jeremie Godet, while expressing that the EU needs

BRUSSELS 00000042 003.3 OF 004


to keep
a special relationship with the U.S., explained that the
Commission
believes the U.S. will be the first non-European partner to
cooperate on the encrypted Public Regulated Service (PRS)
signal.
However, he was unable to provide any concrete examples at
this
time, given that there are still internal discussions on
exactly how
the EU will use PRS. The general concept as of now is that
PRS will
be used by the EU primarily in civil applications with some
security
missions such as peacekeeping and border control. (Comment:
See
BRUSSELS 003421 for further information on individual member
state
plans for the PRS signal. End comment.)

--------------
Galileo Cooperation with China
--------------


8. (SBU) Officials at both the Commission and GSA went into
detail
as to the current state of the Galileo relationship with
China.
Both Jeremie Godet and Eero Ailio of the Commission explained
that
now that the control of Galileo is firmly with the Commission,
China's access to the programmatics and technical information
will
be strongly limited. Ailio explained that the Commission
needs to
develop a "watertight system" for technology control, to
include
possibly new export controls to ensure non-proliferation to
China.
Godet explained that ESA created a problem in the past,
specifically
with the sale of Swiss clocks used on Galileo to China. The
entire
transaction occurred completely within the framework of ESA,
which
has special exemptions related to exports, and which would
not have
transpired under the EU. Ailio expects that special
contractual
rules will be included in the calls for tenders to limit the
possibility of technology transfer so that the Swiss clock
case is
not repeated. GSA Director Pedreira expanded upon that,
explaining
that China's cooperation forward will be limited to support
in the
management of Galileo applications to be used in China, and
that no
technical staff will be working on the project and no staff
of any
type will be working in Brussels. Pedreira reiterated that
the EU
needs to adapt export control to Galileo to limit technology
transfer and information exchange. (Comment: Commission
representatives have implied in several conversations that
now that
China is a true competitor with its Compass system, it is not
in the
best interests of the EU to assist China in SatNav
development. End
comment.)

--------------
2008 Space Policy Dialogue
--------------


9. (SBU) Paul Weissenberg, Director-Coordinator for the
Aerospace,
Defense, and Security Industry, used the meeting to focus
primarily
on the upcoming 2008 U.S.-EU Space Policy Dialogue,
particularly the
opportunities for further cooperation. He expressed that
while the
U.S. and the EU have a good history of working together, many
of the

BRUSSELS 00000042 004.2 OF 004


issues facing us now are global in nature, and the we should
work
together to tackle these global issues. Prime among them
include
protection of space infrastructure from space weather and
space
debris or ionospheric interference for GNSS. (Comment: These
topics
currently are what the Commission is referring to when using
the
term "security" as it applies to space issues. Security will
be
placed on the agenda for the Space Dialogue, but only in a
context
that allows for further discussion to identify specific
issues with
joint interest. At this time, the Commission is very
hesitant to
discuss purely military issues but has given indications that
this
is a topic into which the discussios can be expanded in the
future.
End Commen.) Both Weissenberg and Andras Roboz, Head ofUnit for
Space Policy and Coordination, were very appreciative of U.S.
interest to discuss guidelines for behavior in space and space
situational awareness cooperation.


10. (SBU) Director Hodgkins advised that the U.S. submitted
to the
Portuguese Presidency comments on the EU's Draft Code of
Conduct for
Space Activities (See STATE 157671 for U.S. comments).
(Comment:
Director Weissenberg requested a copy of the U.S. comments,
which
were delivered by USEU shortly after the meeting. End
comment.) He
also expressed support for the EU initiative and that the
U.S. was
in a position to cooperate and discuss the EU's ideas.
Additionally, he explained that the U.S. would like to
discuss the
possibilities of cooperation on space situational awareness,
which
will be placed on the agenda of the Space Dialogue in order to
determine specific issues of joint interest. Finally,
Director
Hodgkins requested further information on changes to the
competency
with respect to space outlined in the Lisbon Treaty, which
will be
covered in further detail during the Space Dialogue.

MURRAY
.