European defence procurement refers to the collective armaments purchasing polices of European nations.

Traditionally European countries have either developed their own weapon systems or brought 'off the shelf' systems usually NATO-sponsored from the United States. In the modern era, reduced defence budgets and increasing complexity make it difficult for most countries to develop their own weapon systems. Furthermore identical projects in differing countries was recognised as a waste of resources. However the same countries often do not wish to purchase American systems because the perception of a loss of sovereignty and the profits (and jobs) go to American companies. NATO 2002 Summit in Prague. ...

Therefore some European nations are attempting to pool their resources to create multinational programmes to create a more independent and competitive capability. The European Defence Agency was established in 2001 to create such a stronger European market for defence equipment. The European Defence Agency (EDA), based in Brussels, Belgium, is an agency under the Council of the European Union. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

The Eurofighter Typhoon is an example of European commitment to its own industry. When the British government cancelled the TSR-2 and purchased the F-4 Phantom II there was outcry. In the 1970s and 1980s when selecting the next generation fighter the government recognised that to repeat such a move was politically unacceptable,^{[citation needed]} strengthening the case for a next generation European fighter. Previously United Kingdom, Germany and Italy had cooperated in producing the Panavia Tornado in the 1970s. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers through Eurofighter GmbH which was formed in 1986. ... The BAC TSR-2 was an ill-fated cold war project developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in the early 1960s. ... The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[2] is a two-seat supersonic long-range all-weather fighter-bomber originally developed for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Douglas. ... The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine fighters, which was jointly developed by the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. ...

Industry

While European defence budgets remain fragmented and massive duplication in research and development exists, the European defence industry has made some moves towards consolidation. British Aerospace was widely expected to merge with Germany’s DASA to form the first major European defence giant. Instead in 1999 BAe merged with another British company, GEC's defence businesses (GEC-Marconi), to form BAE Systems which has tended to focus on the Anglo-American market. As a result, in 2000, DASA merged with Aerospatiale-Matra to form EADS. Further consolidation of the smaller defence firms cannot be ruled out. British Aerospace (BAe) was a UK aircraft manufacturer, now part of BAE Systems. ... Luftwaffe Tornado ECR Deutsche Aerospace AG Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG Founded May 19, 1989 as Deutsche Aerospace AG, bundling space and aeronautic elements of Daimler-Benz (including Dornier Luftfahrt), Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), MTU München, and Telefunken Systemtechnik (TST) In 1992, the helicopter division was... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The General Electric Company plc or GEC was a major UK company involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications and engineering. ... The General Electric Company plc (GEC) is a British company that was renamed Marconi plc on November 30, 1999 after its defence unit Marconi Electronic Systems was divested and sold to British Aerospace. ... BAE Systems plc is the worlds fourth largest defence contractor,[3] the largest in Europe and a commercial aerospace manufacturer. ... A rospatiale-Matra was a European missile and aircraft manufacturer. ... The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS) is a large European aerospace corporation, formed by the merger on July 10, 2000 of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany. ...

In 2002 the formation of MBDA brought together the product portfolios of Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (of EADS), Alenia Marconi Systems missiles, and Matra BAe Dynamics to form Europe's No. 1 missile manufacturer and No. 2 globally after Raytheon. MBDA is a European arms company which manufactures missiles and is the result of the 2001 merger of Aérospatiale-Matra Missiles (of EADS), Alenia Marconi Systems missile divisions and Matra BAe Dynamics. ... Aérospatiale-Matra was a European missile and aircraft manufacturer. ... Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) is a major European defence electronics company and is a equal shares joint venture between BAE SYSTEMS and Finmeccanica. ... Matra BAe Dynamics was formed in August 1996 by merger of half the missile business of Matra Defense of France and BAe Dynamics (a division of British Aerospace) of the UK and was Europes largest manufacturer of missiles and UAVs. ... Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is a major United States military contractor based in Waltham, Massachusetts. ...

Other major players include

• AgustaWestland
• Dassault Aviation
• Diehl BGT Defence
• Eurocopter
• Eurofighter International
• Krauss-Maffei
• Rolls-Royce
• Snecma
• Thales
• Finmeccanica
• ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
• Rheinmetall

AgustaWestland is a helicopter design and manufacturing company based in Italy and the United Kingdom. ... Dassault Aviation is a French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets. ... Diehl BGT Defence GmbH & Ko KG is a German arms manufacturer with headquarters in Ãœberlingen. ... The Eurocopter Group is a global helicopter manufacturing and support company formed in 1992 from the merger of the helicopter divisions of French Aérospatiale and German DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA). ... The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers, Eurofighter GmbH, formed in 1983. ... Krauss-Maffei is an injection molding machine manufacturer based in Germany. ... Rolls-Royce plc is a British aircraft engine maker; the second-largest in the world, behind General Electric Aviation. ... Société Nationale dÉtude et de Construction de Moteurs dAviation or SNÉCMA is one of the worlds leading aerospace corporations, specialized in propulsion, equipment and associated services. ... The Thales Group (Euronext: HO) is a global electronics company serving aerospace, defence, and information technology markets worldwide. ... Finmeccanica is Italys second largest industrial group. ... German industrial company ThyssenKrupp AG, with about 200,000 employees, mainly operates in the steel industry, but also in the automotive, industrial construction, and shipbuilding areas, as well as manufacturing elevators and providing other technologies and services. ... Rheinmetall is a German defense company with factories in Düsseldorf and Unterlüß. It has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces. ...

Products

Below are some examples of European products and the previously weapons they may replace.

• A400M – replacing C-130 and Franco/German Transall
• Meteor – replacing AMRAAM as long-range AAM
• ASRAAM and IRIS-T – replacing Sidewinder as short-range AAM
• Eurofighter Typhoon – replacing F-4 Phantom II, F-16s, Tornado F.3
• EH101 – largely replacing European helicopters
• NH90 – largely replacing European helicopters
• PzH 2000 – replacing M109 Paladin
• Leopard II
• GTK Boxer
• Horizon class frigate and FREMM multipurpose frigate both for the French and Italian navies
• Type 212 and Type 214 submarine, equipping the Italian, German and Greek navies

There are several examples where one country continues to pursue purely national programmes because collaboration would be unacceptable or undesirable. For example both the UK and France continue to develop and operate independent nuclear deterrent. Likewise France's desire for military and industrial independence has motivated its continued pursuit of high-technology projects, e.g. Dassault Rafale. The Airbus A400M (M for military) is a four engine turboprop aircraft designed by Airbus Military to meet the demand of European nations for a new military cargo aircraft. ... The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop aircraft, is the main tactical air transport aircraft of the United States and UK military forces. ... The Transall C-160 is a military transport aircraft developed by a consortium of French and German aircraft manufacturers for the air forces of those two nations and that of South Africa. ... The Meteor missile is a highly agile long-range air-to-air guided missile for future complex beyond-visual-range (BVR) threat scenarios built by MBDA. Meteor started out as the UK MoD Staff Requirement 1239, for a Beyond Visual Range Air-To-Air Missile (BVRAAM) system, to replace the... The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range, Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM (pronounced am-ram), commonly known to air crews as the Slammer, is a new generation air-to-air missile, developed as the result of an agreement between the United States and other NATO countries (see below). ... A US Navy VF-103 Jolly Rogers F-14 Tomcat fighter launches an AIM-54 Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile. ... The AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile is a British air-to-air missile with infra-red guidance. ... IRIS-T (Infra Red Imaging System Tail/Thrust Vector-Controlled) is a German-led program to develop a short-range air-to-air missile to replace the AIM-9 Sidewinder. ... Look up sidewinder in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers through Eurofighter GmbH which was formed in 1986. ... The AgustaWestland EH101 is a medium-lift helicopter for military applications but also marketed for civil use. ... The NHI NH90 is a twin-engine, ten-ton multi-role helicopter manufactured by NHIndustries, a company established by Agusta, Eurocopter and Stork Fokker Aerospace. ... The Panzerhaubitze 2000, or PzH 2000 for short, is a 155mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) together with Rheinmetall for the German Army. ... The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. ... The Leopard is the primary post-WWII German tank design, a design that has been in use as the primary main battle tank for most European countries in various versions since the early 1960s. ... The Boxer is a German-Dutch Multirole Armored Vehicle (MRAV) designed to accomplish a number of operations through the use of installable mission modules. ... The Horizon Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF) is a multi-national collaboration to produce a new generation of anti-air warfare frigates. ... The FREMM Multipurpose Frigate (French Frégate Multi-Mission or Italian Fregate Multi-Missione) is a ship designed by DCN and Fincantieri to operate in anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, and be capable of carrying out deep strikes against land targets. ... The German Type 212 is an advanced design of non-nuclear submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) for the German Navy. ... The Type 214 is a diesel-electric submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW). ... The logo of the Dassault Rafale program. ...

Multinational programmes can fail because of disagreements about price or capability. For example while the UK terminated its collaboration with France and Italy on the next generation frigate (Horizon CNGF) and started a national Type 45 programme. However the warships will share some systems, primarily the MBDA Aster missile. The Horizon Common New Generation Frigate (CNGF) is a multi-nationial collaboration to produce a new generation of anti-air warfare frigates. ... The United Kingdoms Type 45 destroyer is the state-of-the art air defence destroyer programme of the Royal Navy. ... Aster is a family of surface-to-air missiles manufactured by Eurosam, a European consortium consisting of MBDA France, MBDA Italy (combined 66%) and the Thales Group (33%). // The Aster family was developed to perform three distinct missions: Naval autodefence — using the Aster 15 surface-to-air anti-missile missile...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under pressure from President Bill Clinton to select Raytheon's future missile to arm the Eurofighter,^[1] however the UK government selected the European Meteor air to air missile. The Meteor could be deemed riskier, however the Meteor armed Typhoon will not be subject to U.S. export controls and MBDA now has a missile product with no real competition from American manufacturers.^{[citation needed]} For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ...

Likewise European governments were actively dissuaded by the US Department of Defense from continuing the A400M project, the Pentagon argued that the Lockheed C-130J and Boeing C-17 provided all the capability European governments needed and was already flying.^{[citation needed]} The DOD also argued that to spend limited budgetary resources on such duplication was foolish. Continuing delays and lack of agreement in the A400M programme have however already caused the R.A.F. to purchase the Boeing C-17^{[citation needed]}. The United States Department of Defense (DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. ... The C_17 Globemaster III is a strategic airlifter manufactured by Boeing IDS, used by the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force. ...

The previous generation American fight plane (F-16) was widely sold throughout Europe. The next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will probably not see the same export success,^{[citation needed]} at least partially because the JSF project will not allow final assembly in other countries ( as was widespread with the F-16 ) and because there are European alternatives such as Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States and used by dozens of countries all over the world. ... The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a military fighter aircraft designed by the United States and the United Kingdom. ...

Conclusion

It can be argued that the focus on "buying European" sometimes obscures the important factor, the actual provision of capability. Only the UK operates a truly competitive defence procurement policy,^{[citation needed]} for example allowing the involvement of the Thales Group in the Royal Navy Future Carrier (CVF). The Thales Group (Euronext: HO) is a global electronics company serving aerospace, defence, and information technology markets worldwide. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... CVF, literally Aircraft Carrier Future,[3][4] but commonly called the Future Carrier is a new generation of aircraft carrier being developed for the United Kingdoms Royal Navy. ...

Recent UK government selection of European defence equipment has been more related to capability than such a "buy European" policy. The UK's Meteor decision was not dogmatic, but represented a true increase in both the operational capability of the Eurofighter and potential for export sales than an AMRAAM equipped Typhoon.^[2]

It seems likely that a stronger, more competitive and potentially more efficient European industry will allow European governments to do more with current budgets. However American companies are assured of a healthy share of European procurement budgets. The UK continues to order U.S. defence products in large numbers, F-35 Lightning II, Chinook, C-130J are a few examples. The F-35 is also likely to see service in other European air forces. The F-35 Lightning II—descended from the X-35 of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program—is a single-seat, single-engined military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat. ... The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a versatile, twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. ...

A problem for the European Defence Cooperation however, is that France - which has a large defence industry - sometimes chooses own projects instead of participating in European ones. France withdrew from both the Panavia Tornado (in 1967), and the Eurofighter Typhoon (in 1985) projects in favour of French projects. The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine fighters, which was jointly developed by the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. ... The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine multi-role canard-delta strike fighter aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers through Eurofighter GmbH which was formed in 1986. ...

See also

• OCCAR
• European Security and Defence Policy

OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière dARmement) is a European organisation for coordinating the procurement of purchases of weapon systems by European countries. ... The European Security and Defence Policy or ESDP is a major element of the Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar of the European Union (EU). ...

References

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The British Library - finding information on the defence industry