In December 2015, Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) announced the completion of their association and the creation of a new joint holding company – KNDS – which, many say, could trigger a wider consolidation in the sector of land defence systems in Europe. To find out more about the strategy behind the transaction and its wider impact on the defence industry landscape, European Defence Matters spoke to Stéphane Mayer, CEO of Nexter and co-CEO of the newly created KNDS.

Goods news from our shipyards: EU manufacturers of military vessels and submarines are doing well, especially on international markets awhere exports are booming. No reason though for the industry to rest on its laurels as it urgently needs to invest in research & technology (R&T) if it wants to stay at the top, as a recent study commissioned by the European Defence Agency (EDA) shows.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks to European Defence Matters about the recent Warsaw Summit, the EU Global Strategy and the future EU-NATO relationship.

Energy efficiency, renewables and environmental protection are probably not the first attributes springing to people’s minds when they think of the military. Times are changing though: with Member States’ Armed Forces being among the largest energy consumers in Europe and energy becoming an Achilles heel of military operations if incorrectly managed, the impact of energy consumption on defence budgets and military effectiveness is growing drastically.

The more military equipment is built on open-source technical standards, the more interoperable and flexible it is, especially when deployed in multinational operations. This applies in particular to electronic networked mission systems installed in manned or unmanned military land vehicles. Rather than developing bespoke systems designed for specific tasks and vehicle types, the future lies in Open System Architectures able to integrate multiple subsystems.

Most tangible expression of the EU’s Common Defence and Security Policy, CSDP operations and missions face new challenges as a result of the fast-changing security and defence environment Europe has do deal with. In an exclusive interview, General Mikhail Kostarakos, the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC), shares his analysis with European Defence Matters.