GERMANY SEEKS U.S. PARTNER TO DEVELOP OPTICAL SPACE IMAGERY CAPABILITIES

S E C R E T BERLIN 000181





NOFORN

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/MDSP DICK BUENNEKE

STATE FOR EUR/CE PETER SCHROEDER



C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2034

TAGS: ETTC, PGOV, PINR, MCAP, PREL, TSPA, FR, GM

SUBJECT: GERMANY SEEKS U.S. PARTNER TO DEVELOP OPTICAL

SPACE IMAGERY CAPABILITIES



REF: A. 08 BERLIN 1537

B. 08 BERLIN 1575



Classified By: Global Affairs Unit Chief Don L. Brown for

reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).



1. (C) SUMMARY: The German element of EADS Astrium GmbH and

the German Space Agency (DLR) are in the advanced stages of

programmatic development of a High-Resolution Optical System

(HiROS) satellite constellation. They are also in

discussions with the U.S. firm DigitalGlobe (DG) about

partnering to share costs, speed up program development, and

enter the U.S. market. Germany believes that HiROS is a

logical, low-risk, next step to expand its national space

reconnaissance architecture. Germany already flies

space-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and

multi-spectral systems, soon expanding its suite to include a

hyper-spectral platform. We note that Germany,s plan

exclude any reliance on other EU members (i.e. France) and

reflects Germany's desire to build this competency

independent of EU interest.



2. (C) Since 2007, Germany has been producing, processing,

and analyzing high quality space-based SAR data from its

Ministry of Defense (MOD)-run SAR Lupe program (a 5-satellite

constellation that is built and operated by OHB Systems AG)

and the Astrium/DLR-run commercial TerraSAR-X program.

During this interval, Germany has made impressive strides in

its abilities to collect, process, and analyze SAR data, but

concluded that, Electro-Optical (EO) data supplementing SAR

data makes interpretation and analysis much easier.

Presently, Germany is wholly dependent upon foreign sources

of high resolution EO imagery. Germany would very much like

to remedy this and DLR believes it now has the knowledge,

skill, and ability to field an operating 0.5 meter resolution

HiROS constellation within three years (2012) at a price tag

of about 200 million euro. END SUMMARY



GERMANY,S HiROS DEVELOPMENT PLAN

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3. (C) On January 23, Dr. Cornelia Riess, DLR Head of

International Cooperation, and Dr. Andreas Eckardt, DLR Head

of Optical Sensors and Electronics, told us that DLR and

Astrium are ready to "deliver the technical components and

ground segment competence" and are only waiting for financing

to be finalized to "start bending metal." Both Eckardt and

Riess expressed confidence that DLR/Astrium could achieve

this aggressive 3-year plan by leveraging available German

instrument technology and past Public Private Partnership

(PPP) experiences successfully building, launching, and

operating satellite systems. Eckardt said that DLR would use

a similar, but improved, version of the instrument technology

they built for the KOMPSAT 3 program - a German partnership

with the South Korean Aerospace Institute (KARI),scheduled

for launch in 2010. Astrium would likely build the satellite

buses and assemble the instruments. DLR stated that they

plan on using Russian launchers for access to orbit.



DLR MOTIVATION: COMPLEMENTING SAR WITH EO

--------------



4. (S//NF) DLR cooperates with the German MOD to create

algorithms for SAR data image processing and DLR researchers

are clearly aware of the significant benefit of fusing EO and

SAR imagery for analysis. Specifically, DLR said that the

German government has realized that it needed an EO satellite

reconnaissance capability "to make maximum use" of their

radar capabilities. Eckardt said the DLR's latest techniques

are sufficiently advanced to permit the generation of fused

radar and EO product. He said that while these techniques

currently require "hours" of processing, DLR is working on

technology to make this processing "near real-time" or in

"milliseconds."



5. (C) In addition, DLR indicated that the aggressive

schedule on their HiROS program was also driven in part by a

desire to incorporate HiROS data within the operational

lifetimes of their TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X programs.

(COMMENT: The TanDEM-X mission is scheduled to launch in 2009



to perform SAR imaging of the entire earth in "tandem" with

TerraSAR-X. END COMMENT) With the end of life for the

TerraSAR-X mission anticipated in late 2012 and the HiROS

potentially available at the beginning of 2012, DLR realizes

there is a unique, if limited, opportunity to simultaneously

collect data from the HiROS, TerraSAR-X, and TanDEM-X

missions.



ASTRIUM'S MOTIVATION: SAR COMPETITIVENESS

--------------



6. (C) Astrium representatives suggested that the HiROS

would represent the type of technology they would propose as

part of a future SAR-Lupe follow-on proposal and have already

begun working on the communications architecture. In 2005,

Astrium was apparently blind-sided when they lost the MOD's

SAR-Lupe contract to OHB Systems. Since then, Astrium has

continued advancing its SAR technology for the commercial

sector with DLR and, as Infoterra (a subsidiary of Astrium

Friedrichshafen) CEO Joerg Herrmann explained, "Infoterra

will not lose out to OHB again" on the next SAR-Lupe

contract. Although confident of their SAR technology,

Infoterra realizes that the ability to incorporate HiROS into

their SAR-Lupe proposal could give them the decisive

technical edge over OHB.



DLR/ASTRIUM'S INTEREST IN DG

--------------



7. (C) DLR is interested in partnering with DG to accelerate

the HiROS development cycle, share costs, and establish

inside access to the U.S. market. In addition, Astrium views

DG as a potential customer for two or more HiROS-type

satellites. Representatives from DLR have already engaged DG

in consultations and, according to a DG representative, his

company is preparing a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA)

application to enable them to discuss and share regulated

technical data with DLR. Eckardt said that DLR explored

various scenarios for international partnerships, but in the

end came to the conclusion that a U.S. partnership (DG) made

the most "business sense."



GERMANY CAUTIOUSLY LOOKING FOR BILATERAL COOPERATION

-------------- --------------



8. (C) Although Germany is very eager to partner with the

U.S. on the HiROS project, they anticipate legal hurdles with

intellectual property rights (IPR) issues and view the

associated exchange of sensitive technologies with the USG as

potentially problematic. Dr. Riess confided that with the

new U.S. Administration in place, DLR is very motivated to

step up scientific cooperation with the USG, and see the

HiROS program as an excellent prospective opportunity for

future bilateral cooperation.



9. (C) HiROS implementation appears a sensible next step for

Germany, both from a national security standpoint and with

associated business opportunities. Germany has created a

niche in the international Earth observation arena by

carefully controlling system costs while maintaining focus on

core/unique technical capabilities. This approach has

yielded sophisticated and reliable satellite systems that

provide an extraordinary amount of product for their

investment, while also creating an opportunity for

significant commercial exploitation. Should DLR's

partnership with DG materialize, DLR indicated that the

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) would be the

"prime customer identified", with DG serving as the U.S.

market entry point.

Koenig