Space Strategy : Europe needs civil-military synergies

Acknowledging that space capacities are “strategically important” not only to Europe’s civil and  commercial but also “security and defence-related policy objectives”, and that “Europe must draw on its assets and use space capacities to meet the security and safety needs of the Member States and the EU”, the Commission’s Space Strategy set the tone for an ambitious policy change in an area which, perhaps like no other, is predestined for greater synergies between its civil and defence dimensions. 

Hence the need to develop closer links between space technologies and European space programmes on the one hand, and Europe’s security and defence objectives on the other hand. Bringing the two together makes perfect sense since “space services can strengthen the EU’s response to growing security challenges by improving, for instance, the monitoring and control of flows which have security implications”, as stated in the strategy which was prepared under the lead of Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (see her interview).

However, to make this a reality, Europe has to reinforce the synergies between civil and security space activities.  “Most space technologies, infrastructure and services can serve both civilian and defence objectives. Although some space capabilities have to remain under exclusive national and/or military control, in a number of areas synergies between civilian and defence can reduce costs, increase resilience and improve efficiency. The EU needs to better exploit these synergies”, the strategy reads. 

To this end, the Commission restated its determination to closely collaborate with the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the EU SatCen, together with Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA) “to explore possible dual-use synergies in the space programmes”.  The new GOVSATCOM initiative providing resilient satellite communication services for governmental and institutional security users (see more details in box below), the first European dual-use effort in space and defence, is a perfect example for this new and successful inter-institutional cooperation.

The Commission also wants to further assess the potential of Copernicus and Galileo/EGNOS to meet EU autonomy and security needs and improve the EU’s capacity to respond to challenges related to migration, border control and maritime surveillance. “To this end, the Commission will strengthen security requirements when developing these systems and will reinforce synergies with non-space observation capacities (e.g.  unmanned aerial vehicles)”.

Maintaining Europe’s autonomous access to space

Another key aspect of the Space Strategy is the Commission’s attachment to Europe’s “autonomous, reliable and cost-effective access to space”. “Europe needs to ensure its freedom of action and autonomy. It needs to have access to space and be able to use it safely”, it stresses. Therefore, “access to the radio frequency spectrum must be guaranteed and protected from interference in full complementarity with the Radio Spectrum Policy's aim of maximum spectrum usage efficiency”. 

In the next 10-15 years the EU plans to launch more than 30 satellites for its Galileo and Copernicus programmes, notably in the class of the future European-built launchers such as Ariane 6 and Vega C, making the EU the largest European institutional customer. The Commission said it will therefore aggregate the launch service needs of EU programmes and act as a smart customer of European reliable and cost-effective launch solutions. 

“It is crucial that Europe continues to have modern, efficient and flexible launch infrastructure facilities. In addition to measures taken by Member States and ESA, the Commission will consider ways to support such facilities within its areas of competence, for example through its contracts for launch services or other instruments where this is needed to meet EU policy objectives or needs”. 

The Commission also wants to complement the efforts of Member States, ESA and industry in addressing long-term research and innovation needs, including low-cost access to space for small satellites; advanced manufacturing; breakthrough concepts (such as re-usability); mitigating environmental impacts; and providing regular opportunities for European in-orbit validation services for new technologies and products to be used in space. It will also encourage the development of commercial markets for low-cost small launch systems or for commercial space activities such as spaceflight or suborbital space tourism.
 

Protection of critical European space infrastructure 

The proliferation of space debris remains the most serious risk to the sustainability of space activities and will continue to be addressed at European and international level. The EU has dealt with this issue through the implementation of the EU space surveillance and tracking (SST) support framework which has now started delivering operational services based on a pool of Member States’ capacities.

The Commission will reinforce the SST support framework to improve the performance and geographical coverage of sensors. It will consider extending its scope to address other threats and vulnerabilities, for example cyber threats or the impact of space weather on satellites and on ground infrastructure such as transport, energy grids and telecommunication networks. 

In the long term, this SST model could evolve into a more comprehensive space situational awareness service, building on existing activities in the Member States and ESA, and taking into account international cooperation frameworks, particularly with the US.

In the long term, this SST model could evolve into a more comprehensive space situational awareness service, building on existing activities in the Member States and ESA, and taking into account international cooperation frameworks, particularly with the US.

The full text of the Commission’s ‘Space Strategy for Europe’ is available here.

EDA-SATCEN cooperation in good shape 

In July 2016, the EDA and the European Union Satellite Centre (SATCEN) formalized their close and fruitful cooperation, already in place since 2004, with an exchange of letters between Jorge Domecq (EDA Chief Executive) and Pascal Legai (SATCEN Director). Both organisations perform complementary roles and activities in the space-based earth observation domain and more generally in the space and security sector. Whereas the EDA’s work is focused on the harmonisation of requirements and the promotion of appropriate schemes for future capability development, SATCEN’s activity supports the decision making and actions of the EU by providing products and services resulting from the exploitation of space assets in particular in the CSDP field. 

Since 2004, EDA and SATCEN have collaborated on projects as important as GISMO (Geospatial Information to Support Decision Making in Operations) and GISMO 2, SULTAN (Persistent Surveillance Long Term Analysis) and REACT. With the exchange of letters, the EDA and SATCEN establish a more structured cooperation meaning that they will even more focus on activities of mutual interest, such as studies, workshops, projects and programmes. EDA and SATCEN have also identified specific cooperation areas such as imagery exploitation, geospatial analysis and applications, future space-based earth observation systems, cyber defence, Big Data exploitation in the space and security domain, space situational awareness or maritime surveillance. The two Agencies will also develop a joint roadmap for cooperation detailing the activities of common interest as included in the respective work programmes. The roadmap will be updated annually.