Editorial

PAGE 1

S U M M A R Y

I / DEFENCE EXHIBITIONS

IDEX 2011 - General presentation………………….p 2

- competition around armoured vehicles……….…..p 2

IDET 2011 - General presentation……………….…...p 3

- RCWS-30 turret from Rafael ……………….………p 4

- RECCE version of the Pandur 2………..…………...p 4

- MGC-1 : modernisation of the BMP-1……………...p 4

FED 2011 - General presentation……...…………....p 6

IDEF 2011- General presentation…………………..p 8

- Turkish defence industry……………………...…p 9

- Turkish UAV …………………………………….…p 10

- ALTAY MBT……….…………………………...….p 11

- Tanks in service in the Turkish Army…………...p 12

II / MARKETING

- World market for MBT : perspectives 2030……....p 13

- Tendances on the missile & Navy markets……..p 15

III / INDUSTRIES, PRODUCTS AND PROGRAMMES

- The end of the « LSI »…………………...………..p.16

- Lockheed Martin, turret manufacturer…………...p 16

- Etats-Unis : from FCS to BCT………………..……p 16

- France : beware the Scorpion……………………p 17

- PILARw : tactical tool …………………………….p 17

- Naval : Will Europe be one day present at the rendez-

vous ?.............................................................................p 18 IDEF 2011

May 2011 - Istanbul - Turkey source : ARTEM DEFENSE

ARTEM DEFENSE

215, rue JJ Rousseau - 92130 Issy les Moulineaux - FRANCE

Tel. : +33 (0)9 62 03 33 44 - Fax : +33 (0)1 47 36 25 42

E-mail : contact@artem-is.fr

Website : www.artem-defense.com

The spring of 2011 was rich in international Defence exhibitions. This edi-tion of our newsletter which celebrates its 4000th subscriber will mainly be dedicated to the IDET (Czech Republic) and IDEF (Turkey) exhibitions that reflect the challenges, constraints and ambitions of the regional state and industrial actors. Thus, if IDET reflects the budgetary constraints of the European countries and the freezing of many programmes, IDEF demon-strates the strength of the Turkish companies carried by a policy of quite large size progammes and ambitions. Contrary to the Gulf countries, the in-dustrial temptation has been de creased ( we will rapidly pinpoint the ar-moured vehicle programmes in the light of IDEX, the UAE exhibition held last February), Turkey is provided with several decades of conquering strat-egy that little by little enables the local companies to master the know-how and technologies whose value is ever increasing. And whilst we are writing about technologies, let us mention of next ARTEM Defense Newsletter that will be issued after the next aeronautical exhibition of Le Bourget (beginning right now!) that will dedicated to battlefield robotics and UAV.

Patrick Cansell, PhD CEO ARTEM DEFENSE.

N E W S L E T T E R N ° 1 7 M A Y - J U N E 2 0 1 1 N ° I S S N 1 9 5 1 - 4 9 7 8

PAGE 2

This edition of IDEX was held in a strained context due to the “Arab Spring”. At the same time riots occurred in Bahrain and the Egyptian revolution had reached com-pletion hardly ten days before. Therefore, some companies and delegations from the Middle East were absent. However, the number of exhibitors was on the in-crease by close to 25% with respect to the 2009 exhibition. The Gulf companies reached 175, i.e. 17% of the exhibitors and more than two thirds came from the UAE. As regards equipment and systems, IDEX was full of novelties and/or solu-tions for modernisation and in all domains: armoured vehicles, weapon systems, drones, observation and communication systems, etc...

ARTEM DEFENSE has of course observed the competition around the armoured vehicles programme for the Emirati Armed LAnd Forces, considered as one of the most important current competition as it bears on 600 vehicles. Concerned as ar-moured vehicles in ‘troop transport ‘ and ‘infantry combat’ versions. This bid for tender ails at replacing, in the long term, part of the 600 tracked BMP-3 in service in the UAE. To date, the defence companies that should participate are the Finnish Patria with AMV, the French Nexter with the VBCI, the Swiss Mowag (American General Dynamics group ELS) with the Piranha V and the German ARTEC (KMW/Rheinmetall Germany / Rheinmetall NL) with the Boxer. Other companies could participate to propose their amroured vehicles, specially the Koreans Doosan (with Black Fox) and Hyundai Rotem (with the KW-1 and KW-2), the Turkish FNSS with the PARS or again the Ukranian KMMMBDB - Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau with the BTR-4. A.TARGÉ ARTEM DEFENSE

IDEX 2011 : COMPETITION AROUND ARMOURED VEHICLES

The IDEX exhibition (International Defence Exhibition & Confer-ence) is the largest defence exhibition in the Middle East.

It was held at the end of February 2001 in the United Arab Emir-ates. Founded in 1993 it was the tenth exhibi-tion.

Exhibition data 2011 Exhibitors : 1062 Represented countries : 52 Visitors : > 60 000 Official delegations : > 100

IDEX EXHIBITION February 2011 - Abu Dhabi - UAE

Source : ARTEM DEFENSE

VBCI (Nexter) © ARTEM DEFENSE 2011

Piranha III (GDLS) ©ARTEM DEFENSE 2011

One could be astonished by the re-opening if this competition that seemed locked since 2007 as

Patria had then won a contract for preliminary studies and exhibited during IDEX 2007 a version

of the AMV equipped with a turret of the BMP-3 (refer to our ARTEM Defense Newsletter No.10)

on a market prospected by Nexter since 1996 (with VEXTRA 8x8 equipped with the same BMP3

turret). Competition has resumed therefore at least until 2012. One will notice that the VBCI and

BOXER (here adjoined) are competing in the UAE in the same category. These armoured vehicles,

presented as the outcome of different operational doctrines and needs and ‘incompatible’ for the

German BWB and the French DGA now address the same export markets on the same segment.

The arguments that were justified for non-cooperation are rubbed out in the face of business !

BASA III L

The BASA III L system is a projectable air trafic control solution meant for a field heliport.

Made up of two 1C containers, the system serves to control take-off and landing operations of

helicopters up to a distance of 30 km and ensures a day/night visibility for the pilots up to 10

km in good weather conditions. It is a module of a larger projected C4I system called D-SQOC

(Deployable Squadron Operational Centre). The control room contains the stations of the 3

operators. The integration of the system was carried out by the VTULaPVO Institute of Pra-

gue.

The eleventh edition of the IDET exhibition is part of the regional exhibitions that are certainly less important than Eurosatory, DSEI, AUSA or IDEX, but are worth a detour. Indeed, the Defence companies and the Forces present double their efforts to present their technologies and their know-how, and the relatively modest number of visitors means that the exhibitors are more available than on a major exhibition. Ideal for find-ing an industrial partner, IDET enables secondary actors to “go shopping” for technol-ogy development or sub-contracting projects. The local small to medium enterprises and the amazing spin-offs of the major Czech universities are hunting for nay coopera-tion, offering the spontaneity and ingenuity of the Eastern countries but with NATO standards ! With the prototypes presented (modernisation of armoured vehicles or artillery systems, remotely controlled solutions, optronic systems, etc.) the tendency is towards pragmatism; budgetary constraints being what they are. But here “craftiness” is a reliable system : one speaks of “standards” before performance levels and of “quality” before (controlled) costs of the local solutions. The spirit stems from the ‘impact strength’ of the defence industrial and technological basis, without unneces-sary trimmings, with modesty but not without pride of proposing of a certain degree of quite appreciable know-how. In short, one leaves the exhibition with wishes – and cer-tainly ideas- of cooperation, even if one is not an industrialist! As long as one is not thinking of selling a turn-key system or equipment, but one speaks of ‘partnership’, “cooperation”, or “sub-contracting”, the doors open on interesting perspectives and a true will to move forward. You will find more information on the future soldier sys-tems, RCWS, robotized solutions and armoured vehicles presented at IDET 2011 in our ‘market panoramas’ and our data bases (you are welcome to contact us). P.CANSELL ARTEM DEFENSE

Exhibition data 2011 Exhibitors : 369 (36 countries) Visitors : 27.000 incl. 1300 foreigner (34 countries) 21 delegations from 19 countries

IDET 2011 May 2011 - BRNO - Czech Rep.

source : ARTEM DEFENSE

PAGE 3

The eleventh edition of

IDET exhibition took

place from 10 to 13

may in Brno, Czech Re-

public.

Next edition :

14-17 may 2013.

IDET 2011

BASA III L - ©ARTEM DEFENSE - IDET 2011

PAGE 4

RCWS 30 (RAFAEL) - © ARTEM DEFENSE – IDET 2011

PANDUR 2 - © ARTEM DEFENSE – IDET 2011

CV-90 ARMADILLO - © ARTEM DEFENSE – Eurosatory 2010

MGC-1 (EXCALIBUR ARMY) - © ARTEM DEFENSE – IDET 2011

RCWS-30 (30 mm) by RAFAEL.

This remote control weapons system (RCWS) is installed on the PANDUR 2 equipped with a 30 mm gun by ATK and SPIKE-LR anti-tank missiles. The Pandur 2 was presented at different stages of its manufacture (it is indeed produced under license by VOP26) whilst the RCWS is delivered as such. For the 107 Pan-dur 2 ordered by the Czech Republic, 92 will be equipped with this RCW and 78 with the RCWS equipped with anti-tank mis-siles. RECCE version (battlefield reconnaissance and surveil-lance) of the Pandur 2. It is equipped with an optronic mast and a SQUIRE battlefield surveillance radar developed by THALES KBV-PZLOK (range 48 km). This armoured vehicle is for reconnaissance missions of the motorized brigades. MGC-1 : modernisation solution demonstrator for the

BMP-1.

In 1994, Sweden had acquired 350 second hand BMP-1 that were in service in the East German Army and had them retrofit-ted in Poland and the Czech Republic for close to 26 million US$. These armoured vehicles, of which 250 would be in excellent condition (a hundred odd kilometers on the counter!) were re-sold to the Czech Republic at the end of 2010. They now belong to the private company Excalibur Army that intends to re-export this materiel.

This company is not only a trading company as it proposes de-fence equipment and spares and developments (mainly mod-ernisation solutions and setting to NATO standards for the time being). It therefore proposes the MGC-1, an add-on armour ver-sion of the BMP-1 for an ‘export’ customer that is not identified yet. Further to an anti-RPG slat armor and additional armour (level 4 - STANAG 4569), the MGC-1 is provided with active pro-tection, ERA reactive armour, anti-RPG grids, additional anti-mine shield and suspended seats that enable this BMP-1 to be protected at level 2 (STANAG 4569).

One will notice however the absence of additional protection for the roof of the vehicle, against top-attack ammo. As concerns armament, for budgetary reasons, the 73 mm gun has been su-perseded by a 14.5 mm machine gun and a 7.62 mm co-axial. One can imagine that Excalibur Army will be able to equip this mate-riel with a larger weapon system (30 mm gun for example) but this not currently the case since in this configuration this MGC-1 ‘perfectly’ corresponds to the specifications of the export cus-tomer at the origin of the operation. The total weight of the ma-teriel – whose total width is now 4 meters approx.- was not com-municated but should be far from the 13.5 tonnes in combat order of the classical BMP-1. Nothing has been mentioned as re-gards the modernization of the propulsion components nor of the suspensions of this considerably heavier armoured vehicle. The philosophy of the MGC-1 cannot but remind one of that of the add-on armour CV-90 presented by BAE at Eurosatory 2010, the “Armadillo”, a modular materiel whose maximum weight reaches 35 tonnes 16 of which are payload and additional ar-mour. Less modular and more limited in terms of export. But the idea is there : protection! Patrick CANSELL ARTEM DEFENSE

IDET 2011

FED (FORUM ENTREPRISE DÉFENSE) 2011

Exhibition data 2011 Main domains :

Exhibitors : 170 (140 in 2009) Telecommunications - electronics – data processing

Exhibitors (size) : 85% are PME Engineering - training - services

Foreign exhibitors : 3% Armament and ammunition - Optics and optronics

French exhibitors : 51% Ile-de-France Textiles - uniforms – miscellaneous equipment

Visitors : > 2.500 Land, sea and air mobility Other technological domains

PAGE 6

Among the many industrialists present, a vast majority were small to medium enterprises. If many were naturally concerned about the budgetary tendencies, the FED remains an interesting meeting place, not only because of the delegation but more and foremost because one can meet up with other industrialists. If the large groups and the leading small to medium enterprises can-not allow themselves to be absent from the event (here, on right, Caterpillar, world leader in its domain, presented its very large array of equipment to the General Margueron), an exhibition like the FED represents, for the sub-contractors and equipment suppliers, a heavy investment that must be turned into profit. One needs to make oneself known, to benefit from the event to establish contacts and arguments to promote a technological, financial or partnership project. In brief, such an exhibition is not only for passing visitors , it is mainly a place for interaction. Hence the sprit of the FED which seeks to be a “forum”. Among the surprises, the adjacent posi-tion of stands of the two rivals IVECO and Renault Trucks Defense (see picture above). The ban-ners of IVECO, winner at the end of 2010 of the PPT programme (PPT : Land Multi-purpose car-rier – a tactical truck programme whose first batch bore upon 200 8x8 trucks for 160 million Euros, on a provisional total of 2,400 vehicles) floated proudly at the entrance of the main hall. As for Renault Trucks Defense, they perceived their future with some gloom. One has to mention that Renault Trucks and its mother company Volvo Trucks, had begun, for some months, to subsidia-rise its defence activities, initially thought out in the perspective of increases in orders : PTT, retrofit of the VAB, VBMR programme, possible industrial mergers (see our analysis below). Patrick Cansell, PhD

ARTEM DEFENSE

Mrs Laurence Vidal-Cluzel, of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Var department, welcomes on her booth the Major General of the French Army, General MARGUERON, and the director of the new SIMMT, General VERNA, at FED.

© ARTEM DEFENSE

FED - ©ARTEM DEFENSE

Co-oganised by the CCI of Versailles Val-d’Oise / Yvelines and the SIMMT (ex-DCMAT), the forum of the Defence companies is a privileged moment to meet the main Defence suppliers.

The subsidiarisation of the Renault Trucks Defence activity has started on 1st June 2011. Among the routes currently envisaged, one mentions the long term transfer of the defence activity. The loss of the PTT would have not gone down too well with the Swedish management. Further to the replacement of the boss, Serge Perez, now in ‘charge of missions’, this loss in France, that is a domestic market, will not be without repercus-sions on the export market. Paradox : the DGA needs a healthy Renault Trucks Defense to maintain its 3,500 VAB and the thousands of military trucks of the French Army. To preserve Renault Trucks Defense, and to fill in the capacity « gap », the DGA will have to maintain a sufficient level of contracts to the benefit of Renault Trucks Defense : new upgrading of the VAB (main ‘battle horse’ of our forces ) including the possible replace-ment of its front axles and a remotorisation; projects that could lead to delving into the finances of the French Army and delay the VBMR programme. Last counter-attack : the announce that the French group Renault Trucks eyed some activities of IVECO that could be sold by FIAT group… To be continued!

TRA-C Industrie, membre du Cluster EDEN, est impliqué

dans l’industrie de la défense via ses 4 Domaines d’Acti-

vités Stratégiques:

Conduite de projet et Assistance technique : TRA-C

Industrie intervient et pilote toutes les phases de vos pro-

jets (analyse de la valeur, étude, conception et conduite

de projet). TRA-C Industrie accompagne également ses

clients pour une assistance technique terrain et des

transferts de technologie (déplacement et mise en place

de lignes de production) en France ou à l’étranger.

Formation : TRA-C Industrie met à votre disposition 18

experts-métier mobiles partout dans le monde et 1 centre

de formation en France (Soudage Technique d’Auver-

gne). Une prestation de formation sur mesure pour vous

accompagner jusqu’à votre qualification dans les domai-

nes de la chaudronnerie, soudage, tuyauterie industriel-

le, acier à blindage, tôlerie, lecture de plans et formage

(ex : suivant les normes AWS, EN, Ferroviaire 15085

etc…).

Travail des Métaux : TRA-C Industrie réalise sur son

site industriel l’étude et la fabrication de pièces et ensem-

bles en acier à blindage (caisse blindée par ex), ainsi

que l’étude et la fabrication de pièces en aluminium et

acier inoxydable.

Outillages – Machines spéciales :

NOUVEAUNOUVEAUNOUVEAU : TRATRA--C Industrie, grâce à son expérience et C Industrie, grâce à son expérience et

ses partenariats, est en mesure de vous proposer des ses partenariats, est en mesure de vous proposer des

solutions de soudage FSW (Friction Stir Welding).solutions de soudage FSW (Friction Stir Welding).

Notre équipe d’ingénieurs et techniciens étudient des

outillages et gabarits spécifiques. TRA-C Industrie procè-

de également à l’étude et à la réalisation de machines

spéciales très haute technologie.

TRA-C Industrie dispose d’un bureau d’études pour vous

accompagner (conception, calculs, simulation, intégra-

tion…) et vous apporter une expertise complète dans le

management de vos projets ainsi qu’une assistance opé-

rationnelle.

TRA-C Industrie, member of the EDEN Cluster, is linked

with the defence industry via its 4 strategic activities:

Project Management and Technical Assistance: TRA

-C Industrie manages every phase of your projects

(value analysis, study, conception and project manage-

ment). TRA-C Industrie also assists its customers with

technology transfers in France or abroad (start and im-

plementation of production lines) and proposes technical

support on site.

Training: TRA-C Industrie can provide 18 mobile ex-

perts world-wide and 1 training center in France

(Soudage Technique d’Auvergne). All training is custom-

ized to customer needs. TRA-C Industrie can provide

assistance for qualification in boiler-making, welding,

industrial piping, armored steel, plan reading and form-

ing domains (ex: according to the AWS and EN Stan-

dards).

MetalWork: On its industrial site, TRA-C Industrie de-

signs and manufactures parts and assembly parts in ar-

mored steel (such as armored cab), as well as aluminum

and stainless steel parts.

Tooling - Special Machines:

NEWNEWNEW : Thanks to its experience and partnerships, TRAThanks to its experience and partnerships, TRA--

C Industrie can supply Friction Stir welding solutions.C Industrie can supply Friction Stir welding solutions.

Our team of engineers and technicians studies assem-

bly jig and specific tooling. TRA-C Industrie also designs

and manufactures high-tech special machines.

TRA-C Industrie has a skilled engineering department to

assist you (conception, calculation, integration,…) and

offer you a complete expertise in your project manage-

ment as well as an operational assistance for the imple-

mentation of tools and methods.

TRA-C Industrie – ZAC Les Olmes – 69490 Les Olmes - 04.74.63.70.40 – Fax 04.74.63.68.19 - contact@tra-c.com

IDEF 2011

The main suppliers of the Turkish Army were present and could reveal the vari-ety of their defence equipment. Two booths were particularly impressive : that of the missile manufacturer Rokestan and especially that if the defense electroni-cian Aselsan, whose range of products was very impressive. Over the last years, Aselsan has managed to become an unavoidable actor and is even an unavoid-able pivot in the Turkish military and industrial complex. Turkey, as many emerging countries such as Brazil, India and China, is a country that wishes to produces in the long term “100%” Turkish equipment in a maximum amount of fields : MBTs, armoured personnel carrier ; MRAPs, defence electronics, UAV and UGV, communication systems, short, medium and long range missiles, etc.

And indeed, products of all these domains of activity were presented by national companies, some still at the sate of development or technology demonstrators and others, by contrast, already in service with the Turkish Armed Forces and even exported. Since Turkey is now an actor that counts on the Defence markets and multiplies cooperation agreements with countries with a high potential from the Caucasus to South East Asia, proving its real sense of anticipation and getting closer to the time where its long and patient investment will bear fruit, in terms of know-how and markets sharing.

Among the foreign actors, the Chinese booths presented many models mainly rockets and missiles. Specially that of the new short range ballistic missile M20 developed by ALIT - China Aerospace Long March International. Remark : not to be confused with the French ballistic missile M20 that was in ser-vice until the beginning of the 90s on nuclear submarines.

The launching platform of the M20 can carry 2 missiles of close to 3.5 tonnes. The M20 would have a lot of identical technical characteristics to the Russian system Iskander (SS-26 in the NATO nomenclature in service since 1996, and one will note the close resemble to the latter. Hence, its range would from 300 to 400 km. The Chinese M20 is for the export market. The launching platform of the M20 can carry 2 missiles of close to 3.5 tonnes. The M20 would have many tech-nical characteristics identical to that of Russian system Iskander (SS-26 in the NATO nomenclature - in service since 1996), and there is a strong resemblance with the latter. Its range would be from 300 to 400 km. The Chinese M20 would be aiming for the export market.

The tenth edition of the Turkish exhibition IDEF (International Defence Industry Fair) was held at the Tuyap exhibition centre of Istanbul from the 10th to 13th MAY 2011. IDEF is a major regional exhibition, whose influence reaches Central Asia. 40% of the 550 exhibitors were Turkish, which clearly reveals innate dynam-ics.

Exhibition data 2011 Exhibitors : 537 Represented countries : 49 Visitors : 60.000 Delegations : 84 from 70 countries

PAGE 8

IDEF 2011 exhibitors - © ARTEM DEFENSE

IDEF 2011 Istanbul - TURKEY

source : ARTEM DEFENSE

M20 Missile launcher - © ARTEM DEFENSE

The Turkish defence industry at the IDEF 2011 exhibition : armoured vehicles

ARMA 8x8 (Otokar) with Mizrak-30 turret - © ARTEM DEFENSE

MISSILES

Roketsan exhibited its missiles, LRM and rockets : the company could be discussing with the Turkish and Australian armed forces for the sale of air to ground 70 mm CIRIT rockets. They were tested at the beginning of the year in Azerbaijan. Remark: during the exhibition an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed be-tween Roketsan and Eurocopter. It aims at integra-tion of CIRIT rockets on EC635 helicopters. ARMOURED VEHICLES

Otokar : close to 6x6 ARMA armoured vehicle one saw the new version of this vehicle in 8x8 TZA ver-sion with the MIZRAK RCWS turret equiped with a 30 mm gun. The 6x6 version has recently been ex-ported to a Middle East country, most probably Bah-rain. Otokar also exhibited a scale 1 model of its fu-ture MBT called Altay (see page 14).

BMC : this company presented a tactical truck and two “MRAP” : the VURAN and the KIRPI. The VURAN is smaller than the KIRPI and can carry a crew of six (against 10 for the KIRPI). It has an engine power of 180 kW (compared to 257 kW for the KIRPI). Turkey ordered 470 KIRPI last year.

FNSS exhibited its PARS armoured vehicle in the 8x8 version with a 30 mm turret, and in the 6x6 ver-sion ; as well as the tracked Akinci ZMA vehicle with its new CLAW 25 mm turret. Turkey ordered, last year, close to a thousand PARS in different versions, of which 50 forthe Navy. On the export side, FNSS recently sighed an agreement with DRB-Hicom De-fence Technologies (Deftech) company to supply 257 PARS 8x8 to the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Nurol : the 6x6 EJDER troop transporter, exhibited

in a desert version is one of the competitors of the

PARS. It was exported to Georgia a few years back.

C4ISR and electronnic defence

The company Yaltes (joint-venture between Thales

Nederland and the Turkish Yalcin) proposed its solu-

tions in C4ISR for the Navy : combat management

systems, simulation solutions, etc. It modernises the

Perry class Pakistani frigates (with Havelsan). With-

out forgetting several dozen of medium to small en-

terprises proposing simulation solutions, sub-

assemblies, and various electronic components.

PAGE 9

A.TARGÉ ARTEM DEFENSE

The 25 mm CLAW turret (called PENCE in Turkish) is produced jointly by FNSS and Aselsan. It’s a

25mm caliber turret with a weight of 2.5 tonnes, provided with a level 2 protection (referring to

NATO standard 4569). Level 3 is available as an option.

The CLAW is provided with a 7.62 mm machine gun. The maximum rate of fire is 600 per minute for

the 25 mm gun. It is equipped with optronic systems developed b Aselsan : thermal camera, day cam-

era, laser rangefinder. Lastly a target tracking system was installed. During the exhibition, a 2156

meteorological system by Irdam was presented on the 25 mm CLAW. This turret, as more than 80

other RCWS are of course included in the ARTEM DEFENSE worldwide RCWS panorama.

FNSS PARS at IDEF 2011 - © ARTEM DEFENSE

Roketsan MLRS at IDEF 2011 - © ARTEM DEFENSE

THE TURKISH DRONES AT IDEF 2011

The number of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) proposed to the Turk-ish armed forces and police has been on steady increase over the last dozen years or so. More and more countries, especially the merging countries, produce them including Turkey that proposed at IDEF a dozen odd fixed or rotary wing drones.

Reminder : there are different types of UAVs.

(NB : a UCAV can be a TUAV or MALE).

Among the Turkish firms exhibiting their drones one can mention the following :

TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries): the largest Turkish aeronautical company has developed the MALE ANK-A UAV. Its development would have cost close to 100 million US$. This UAV has a wingspan of 17 me-ters, weighs 1.6 tonnes and its maximum speed is 217 km/h. The ANK has an autonomy of 24 hours and a payload of 300 kg. During IDEF, it was equipped with an Aselflir-300T gyro-stabilised optronic ball by the electronician Aselsan and a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). The UAV present on the booth was a ANKA-A, a non-armed version specialized for reconnaissance missions. Three prototypes of this version have to date been produced by TAI. The armed version of this drone (UCAV) called ANKA-B is still under development. It could integrate equipment by the Turkish Roketsan : UTMAS air to ground missiles or CIRIT 70 mm rockets. The first test flight of the ANKA-A was held in December 2010 on an airfield in Western Turkey. 30 reconnaissance version drones would have been ordered by the Turkish Air Force.

Remark : a protocol agreement has just been signed between YAI and Cassidian (EADS) in view of establishing a cooperation between the two companies as regards the Talarion programme.

Vestel Savunma : the KARAYEL tactical UAV has a weight of 80 kg and can fly up to 6.700 m high. It has a maximum autonomy of 20 hours. The Turkish Army should receive 6 items from now until 2013. It was presented with a ball under its fuselage but would have currently been ordered without this equipment.

Kalebaykar : this firm presented two fixed wing UAV and one rotary wing UAV called the Malazgirt. One of the fixed wing drones was a mini tactical UAV called Bayraktar : 5.5 m long, with a weight of 450 kg. It has an autonomy of 10 hours and its max. speed is 112Km/h. During the exhibition it was equipped – for illustration purposes – with a Canon camera. The Turkish Army could have ordered 19 units but cur-rently only 4 prototypes would be in existence.

Aeroseeker : this small company with 10 personnel, subsidiary of Atlantis UVS, has recently developed a rotary wing UAV with four ro-tors : the QuadRotor. The company wants to propose it for border and urban surveillance missions.

All UAVs considered, the Turkish aeronautical industry proposes twenty odd drone systems of which a large part is still at the demon-strator or prototype stage, but the national market seems promising enough to boost companies that are already thinking about exporting.

A.TARGÉ ARTEM DEFENSE

ANKA by TAI - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

Karayel by Vestel - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

Bayraktar by Kalebaykar - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

Malazgirt by Kalebaykar - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

QuadRotor by Aeroseeker - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

PAGE 10

Minidrones Mini / Small UAV

TUAV Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle

MALE Medium Altitude, Medium Endurance

HALE High Altitude, High Endurance

UCAV Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle

The Turkish defence industry at the IDEF 2011 exhibition : tanks & robots

As regards MBTs that are already in service in Turkey, it was the Turk-ish Aselsan that retrofitted the 171 Leopard 1 MBT of the Turkish Army (for 160 million US$) and that obtained the contract for the modernisa-tion of 290 Leopard 2A4 acquired by Turkey from the Bundeswehr un-der the nose of Rheinmetall, that currently benefits from the transfers of second hand Leopards. But Turkey did not leave the German indus-trialists with any choice.

This modernisation, that should be completed in 2013-2014, mainly concerns the Commander and Gunner sights, the fire control system, the inertial navigation system, the integration of a RCWS, the LWR (Laser Warning Receiver), the BMS (Battlefield Management System), the fire extinguishing system and the armour with add-on kits. Further to the electronic systems for the modernisation of armoured vehicles, Aselsan presented on its booth a very wide range of systems and products:

Naval systems (counter-measures, jammers, acoustic systems, radars, electronic warfare systems, fire control systems, anten-nas for submarines, etc.),

RCWS communication systems for the foot soldier and drones, aiming sights for rifles,

MWS (missile warning system), electronic warfare systems for helicopters, electronics for pods, telescopic mast with infra-red camera, gyro-stabilised optronic gimbals, etc.

In brief, a complete and modern catalogue that reveals a strategy aim-ing for industrial and technological autonomy.

As for robotics, the Turkish companies are not outdone : the robotician GATE Electronik proposed several land robots, specially the “ROBAS” (see adjoined picture) whose payload is 150 kg. It was pre-sented with an optronic gimbal but can be equipped with a radar sys-tem, a light RCWS or an anti-IED jammer. It is provided with four flexi-ble pivoting tracks allowing to overcome obstacles. Its autonomy is 25 km. It is not yet in service in the Turkish Army for the moment.

PAGE 11

TANKS IN SERVICE IN THE TURKISH ARMY - © ARTEM DEFENSE

Upgraded Leopard 1 at IDEF 2007 - © ARTEM DEFENSE

Vendeur /

SupplierStatus Cmd

Total units in

contractDelivered

Quantity in

serviceInProjectMin InProjectMax Remarks

Mise en

service / In

service date

Turkey Project 0 0 0 250 1000

MİTÜP (Milli Tank Üretimi Projesi

Cooperation with South Korean Agency for Defense Development

Roketsan (armour) + Alselsan (electronics) + MKEK (armament & ammunitions)

1rst full-scale mock-up shown at IDEF 2011

Phase 1 : from 02/2009 for 15 months: concept

Phase 2 : from 05/2011 for 3 years : 2 protos (1rst for end 2012)

2014-2016

Germany Contract 346 346 346 0 0

Contract in 2005 for 298 ex-German Leopard 2A4s including 8 ARV (see specific entry)

Modernization by Aselsan (contract signed in may 2011)

2nd batch in 2009/2010 - 56 units

2006 / 2010

Israel Contract 170 170 170 0 0

Ex-M60-A1

Trouble with armour weight : some holes were made in M60 hull and fragilized the

structure. Something like 2 to 3 tonnes of armour were added to make the hull stronger

and as protected as demanded initially by the client.

2006

USA Contract 658 658 650 0 0Cascading from West Germany and USA (ECF treaty - Traité FCE)

1992

Germany Contract 397 397 392 0 0

1982-1983 : 77 Leopard 1A3 T1. 1989-1990 : 150 Leopard 1A3 retrofit T1. 1990-1991 :

170 Leopard 1A1A1 (A4 ?).

(on these MBT, 230 are from the German Army) ~171 modernized by Aselsan (Fire

Control System) in years 2000 (160M$)

1980

USA Contract 274 274 100 0 0 170 modernized with Sabra upgrade kit - see M60-T entry 1980

USA Contract 2961 2961 1785 0 0

1369 M48 A5 T1 (= M48 A5 US) +751 M48 A5 T2 (= M48 A5 US stabilisation, thermal

camera, fire control) + 658 M48 A3 (1992) + 183 M48 T5 (?)

1200 M48A3 (reserve, phased out or for spares)1970's

USA Contract 900 900 0 0 0 Probably 547 to 766 stored till 2000 - phased out. 1960's

ROBAS UGV (GATE Electronik) - © ARTEM DEFENSE

One of the main attractions of he IDEF

2011 exhibition was undoubtedly the

Altay MBT presented in the form of a

scale 1 model at the Otokar stand. To be

reminded is that the Turkish MBT pro-

gramme started in 1998 through a Re-

quest For Information sent to the main

manufacturers of the time. In 2000, the

Leclerc, the Leopard 2, the Abrams M1

and the Ukrainian T84 participated in a

series of evaluations tests in Turkey for

8 months. Finally, the Turkish authori-

ties and industries decided to create a

sort of sacred union by creating the

BOF team for BMC/Otokar/FNSS in

order to develop a national Turkish

tank using technologies borrowed from

a foreign MBT. Industrial, commercial

and contractual difficulties aborted the

plan. The SSM finally launched a com-

petition between the national industri-

alists on the basis of a purely political

rapprochement with South Korea.

Clearly the winning Turkish industrial-

ist, Otokar, had to cooperate with the

Koreans. This cooperation scheduled

transfers of know-how and technolo-

gies via a State to State contract. Fur-

thermore SSM set up a special contrac-

tual structure comprising individual

contracts with privileged Turkish in-

dustrialists such as Roketsan for the

armour, Aselsan for all the electronics,

including sights and fire control and

MKE for the armament and ammuni-

tion.

PAGE 12

Scale 1 model of ALTAY MBT at the IDEF exhibition - © ARTEM DEFENSE - IDEF 2011

A team of Korean engineers from ADD, the South Korean government development agency, and Rotem, the industrialist in charge of production, set up quarters at Otokar to assist the Turkish design office to develop the nationally designed MBT. The model revealed at IDEF provides a lot of technical information of the Turkish design choices. It is an MBT of classical architecture with a crew of our and the powerpack at the rear. The latter is a MTU Europowerpack 883 common rail associated to a Renk HLWS 294 gearbox. This trialed powerpack equips the Emirati Leclerc and the Israeli Merkava 4. The other choice in matters of mobility is the hydro-pneumatic suspension of the In-Arm type with variable ground clearance, a technology never yet seen on a heavy MBT. The In-Arm technology serves to produce lighter hydro-pneumatic compo-nents than the classical ones as the com-ponent acts as a balancing device. Con-trary to the Korean K2, the Altay has kept to manual loading, the fourth man loads Korean origin 120 mm/52 caliber ammu-nition. This adversely influences the sil-houette of the MBT, specially the size of the turret and therefore the mass that has to be dedicated to the frontal protection. The latter is developed by Roketsan with the assistance of a Korean team. Contrary to the Korean K2, the Altay has kept to manual loading, the fourth man loads Ko-rean origin 12° mm/55 caliber ammuni-tion. This adversely influences the silhou-ette of the MBT, specially the size of the turret and therefore the mass that has to be dedicated to the frontal protection. The latter is developed by Roketsan with the assistance of a Korean team.

Stabilised day/night sights for Com-mander and Gunner, fire control sys-tem, motorization of the electric turret, pheripheral vision cameras, soft-kill counter measures and day/night epi-scope for the Driver will be provided by Aselsan whose booth looked like a Thales one, as the Turkish electronician deals in land/sea/air systems !

Amongst the basic equipment that will equip the Altay one can mention the powerpack, the NBC/air conditioning assembly, the 12.7 mm remotely con-trolled cupola installed on the roof of the turret, the equipment for fording down to 4 meters, the smoke grenade launchers and the laser warning sen-sors at the four corners of the turret. Within the framework of a separate contract, Aselsan is to develop an active hard-kill protection system that will be installed on the MBT at a later date. The Altay will be of class 70 [concerning bridge-crossing and the use of other engineering systems] which means that it should not exceed 63 tonnes in com-bat order. The concept phase is now completed. The development phase has started and should see the production of four prototypes from now until 2013. According to the present contract for an amount close to US$ 500 million, Otokar is also to carry out qualification test with SSM and the Turkish Army. If the MBT demonstrates the expected qualities and performance, a contract for production of a first batch of 250 MBTs could be signed around 2016. Marc CHASSILLAN

Armoured systems expert and designer

ALTAY MBT PRESENTED AT IDEF EXHIBITION IN ISTANBUL

THE WORLD MARKET FOR MAIN BATTLE TANKS : PERSPECTIVES FOR 2030

PAGE 13

Here above, the Russian T-90 and the concept of a future Chinese MBT. Will the best sellers of the 2020s be Chinese, Russian or Turkish ?

Patrick CANSELL, PhD ARTEM DEFENSE

© ARTEM DEFENSE

Some reckon that the market of man bat-tle tanks is no longer viable and is a ‘has been’. Others say that MBTs have a real future within the combat forces. ARTEM DEFENSE has studied the perspectives as regards the sale of MBTs and here reveals the main results of its analyses. Between 1950 and 2010, close to 220,000 MBTs have been sold world-wide. To be noted the volume of orders varied a lot over this long period, includ-ing during the years 1990 to 2010.

Indeed, over the last 20 years, there has been a massive decrease of new pro-grammes within the NATO countries during the post Cold War years, and these have very many transfer of second hand MBTs retired from service within the framework of the Treaty on Conven-tional Armed Forces in Europe. This ‘cascading’ of second hand materiel, of-ten of good quality, has been in part re-sponsible for the sharp decrease in sales out of Europe and for the disappearance of a certain number of industrial actors (one will mention for memory Engesa, the Brazilian industrialist that had man-aged to be among the main exporting forms of armoured vehicles in the eight-ies and that was asphyxiated by the mas-sive transfers of second hand armoured vehicles.

Our acquisition forecast is based on 64 countries needs analyzing. Among the coun-tries that do not appear as potential customers for new or second hand MBT, at the horizon of 2030, one finds many NATO countries including the USA : except for minor productions of the Abrams, the latter is supposed to remain in service beyond 2030 without massive production or renewal, likewise the Leclerc MBT in France, the Chal-lenger 2 in the UK and the Leopard 2 in Germany. These MBTs will however be sub-mitted of regular modernizations, that will not impact the volumes of future sales.

The main volume of MBTs that will be acquired will not be within the NATO, for rea-sons of budgetary constraints and reduction of personnel and also because the NATO country fleets are modern, well maintained and often considered as sufficient for future needs.

The programme of the Turkish Altay MBT is therefore symptomatic of a strong ambi-tion, even if irrational in terms of budget, that one can recurrently find in a certain number of regional powers since the seventies (Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Brazil, Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran and even Argentina and South Africa in their time, thought or are still want to develop their own national main battle tank) after a long first step of production of MBTs bought under license.

The sales of MBTs over the 2011-2030 period will the not be the sole privilege of ‘heavy consumers’ such as China, India and Rus-sia. The break up of the Soviet Union has also seen the birth of ‘small producers’ of derivatives of the T-72, the Russia best seller : Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, all searching for export contracts to maintain their industrial and technological capabilities.

One will underline that except for Germany and Poland, no other EU country will be able, for this period, to propose MBTs or li-censes for export. As for the Abrams MBT, it is now a surpassed MBT, rejuvenated by means of technological kits that the Ameri-cans are hardly likely to export in bulk. One can practically deduce therefore that the main of the modern MBTs that will be com-mercialised at the 2030 horizon will not be Western.

Over the 1950-2010 period, one is to remember that the sales of MBTs represent a volume of ~3,500 units per year.

The average of the sales between 2000 - 2010 is around 500 to 600 MBTs sold yearly (except for illicit sales, that one can estimate at close to 10%, and except for production meant for shady countries such as North Korea, whose armoured vehicles productions are difficult to estimate, the latter representing close to 10% too (lowest estimate); i.e. a minimum of 600 to 720 MBTs per year.

Our estimates for 2011-2030 give a yearly average in the order of 1500 units sold each year for this period of 20 years. These estimates are based on a mod-elisation that integrates programmes, projects and forecast for all the armed forces worldwide.

PAGE 14

PAGE 15

* The Naval Scalp is derived from the Scalp EG, called Storm Shadow for the version delivered to

the British Armed Forces.

Brahmos Missile - INDIA (source : web)

Antonin TISSERON Research fellow at Thomas More Institute

Submarine tests of the SCALP - source : MBDA

May 2010: the French General Directorate for Armament (DGA) proceeded in carrying out the first firing from a vertical launcher

of the MBDA Naval Scalp missile. Weighting 1.4 tonnes of which 500 kg of payload, the Naval Scalp can fly at 800 km/h and reach

a land target located more than 1,000 km away. With this missile, Europe is equipping itself with an armament – at least with a

capability in producing such an armament – comparable to the American Tomahawk, made famous during the Gulf War of 1990-

1991. In the same time, the American Navy terminated its first real static test of the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System

(JMEWS), inter-army multiple effect warheads, the new warhead for the Tomahawk Block IV. Is the Naval Scalp is a window on

the competencies of MBDA, this missile imperfectly illustrates the bottom line tendencies of the market. Tendencies of which

three at least were detectable during the 2010 edition of Euronaval.

The first tendency, as reminded by the

tests successfully carried out by the

Indian Navy of a Brahmos anti-ship

missile, is that there is an increase in

the number of countries capable of de-

signing and producing missiles.

This is the case for anti-air, anti-tank, as

well as anti-ship missiles. This increase,

with a diffusion of arrow head tech-

nologies, will continue in the years to

come due to the increase of defence

expenditure the world over and to the

dynamics of transfer of competency

and know-how.

Second tendency is that the range of

anti-ship missiles is on the increase.

The Indian Brahmos, with a maximum

range announced by the industrialist of

290 km is far from the performances of

the Naval Scalp, but largely exceeds

what the European and American Na-

vies can propose to oppose it.

The MM40 block III, that should equip

the French Horizon frigates and the

future FREMM, has a range of 180 mm;

the European Navies having chosen to

acquire missiles that can be mounted

on helicopters.

This limit of 300 km was the one men-

tioned by the Iranian authorities when

they announced, in August 2008, to

have successfully tested a sea to sea

missile of local manufacture. A missile

with these real capabilities, independ-

ently from range, does raise questions.

Third tendency : the budgetary con-

traints and the arrival of coastal opera-

tions with innovating insurrections, ter-

rorism and piratry – without mentioning

the asymmetric strategies of States - all

push to seek out systems that multi-

purpose and modular with solutions that

can be adapted to low tonnage ships.

This is the case with the Simbad RC

launcher developed by MBDA provided

with two Mistral 2 missiles for close

ground to air defence whose delay be-

tween the preparation phase and the

shot would be less than 5 seconds.

Rafael also proposed Spike missiles on a

turret equipped with a machine gun. To

echo the reduced naval forces of devel-

oped countries, Rafael presented a video

in which drones were used to destroy

terrorist craft.

Behind the unabashed presentations of

the Israelis the company reminded that

drones are beginning to introduce a new

breakthrough in naval warfare, more than

40 years after the attack via missiles on

the Israeli destroyer Eilath. From this

point of view, if several missiles are cur-

rently developed to equip helicopters, the

future of the ‘naval warfare’ for modern

States resides in the deployment of

drones be they air or naval, as comple-

ments and extensions of ships that are

decreasing in number.

TENDANCES ON THE MISSILE & NAVY MARKETS

PAGE 16

NEW GROUND FORCES : THE END OF THE LSI (LEAD SYSTEM INTEGRATOR)

The first countries, USA and Great Britain, who have launched Systems of Systems (SoS) programs for their army, with FCS for the first one and FRES for the second, experienced setbacks of governance.

The role of LSI (Lead System Integrator) held by an industrialist, was to be the panacea, the solution to mastering the high com-plexity. LSIs were appointed with great fanfare. Alas, if it has not renounced the programs, LSIs disappeared soon. It’s the fact that the complexity of a Land joint combat unit is not that of a pure information system or of an aviation system that implements a few types of platforms in a "simple" environment.

Governance of Systems of Systems programs has evolved. The risks associated with their contractorship are such that the roles were redistributed. Only time will tell if the governance of the SCORPION program in France will be strong enough to last. David SPINDLER Spindlerconsulting

GREAT BRITAIN : LOCKHEED MARTIN, A EUROPEAN TURRET MANUFACTURER

On December 2, 2010, General Dynamics UK and Lockheed Mar-tin UK announced the signing of the contract to supply turrets previously selected by the Ministry of Defence to equip the FRES-SV.

The assembly of the turrets will be provided by the Defence Sup-port Group (formerly ABRO, maintenance workshops of the Brit-ish Army), Rheinmetall will provide the weapon assembly and the structure of the turret, SCISYS the electronic architecture, Vetra Electronics the power network, Curtiss-Wright the stabilized mo-torization, Meggitt the ammunition feeding assembly, then CTA International the 40 mm gun. Lockheed Martin provides the engi-neering of the fire control system and the integration of the whole. This turret developed by the subsidiary of a major U.S. industry group will probably be the most pan-European turret ever built.

While Lockheed Martin also announced successful completion of the test firing of the turret submitted for the modernization of the Warrior (WCSP), the British press also gives it the winner of this program against BAE Systems. The turret here proposed by Lock-heed Martin retains its original structure with its constraints, but incorporates many commonalities with the FRES-SV turret, and upgraded BGTI gunner sights provided by Thales UK.

David SPINDLER Spindlerconsulting

It will be recalled that the first concepts that led to the launch of the FCS (Future Combat System) are from the year 1999. The program itself, officially launched in 2003, has suffered budget cuts from 2006 and was abandoned in 2009, replaced by the BCTM program (Brigade Combat Team Modernization). The cancellation was justified by the priority given to anti-terrorism rather than renewal of conventional systems. (even if it’s seems difficult to justify so the combat vehicle part .. .) What remains today form the FSC? Several sub programs are still alive: the intervehicular information network (now called BCT Network), the soldier system in its three versions (dismounted, vehicle crew, helicopter crew) called BCT Soldier of course, a small land robot, a small UAV. The MULE (Multifunction Utility / Logistics Equipment vehicle) from Lockheed Martin, and the unattended ground sensor system, both maintained for a time, have also been recently canceled. Taking into account the GCV (Ground Combat Vehicle: see below) which replace now the MGV (Manned Ground Vehicle), while many features and essential capabilities from the former FCS are still retained, the complexity of implementation, the limits of the communications networks have driven to the cancellation of a large number of them. It's also the experiences of the U.S. military in recent years have certainly shown the value of upgraded information and communication systems, but also their limitations. In many circumstances, nothing can replace the dismounted soldier and their number.

David SPINDLER Spindlerconsulting

UNITED STATES : FROM FCS TO BCT

Lockheed Martin 40mm turret © ARTEM DEFENSE – DVD 2010

PAGE 17

We were expecting an announcement in June 2010 during the Eurosatory exhibition (see AR-TEM DEFENSE Newsletter #15). Finally it is only November 22, 2010 that the French DGA has notified to the TNS-MARS Company, set up by Thales, Sagem and NEXTER, the contract for the engineering of the Architecture of the SCORPION program. The SCORPION Architecture project will provide to DGA the stuff to complete the specifications for the main components of the future GTIA (Joint Battle Group) of the Army, with a set of new functions, including improved commonality and consistency. The TNS-MARS Company, the holder of such assistance contract, does not play a role as prime-contractor of system, nor, at this stage, as system integrator. Presumably additional provisions of the governance of the system engineering will be known and implemented in the course of 2011 by DGA. Development and manufacturing contracts for new equipment and systems or for upgrade of in service systems in the SCORPION GTIA will be notified directly by the DGA to industry after competition. If among them the VBMR program is almost certain to emerge in the coming years, it is perhaps not so for others. It seems likely that even if execution of the Military Planning Law could be nearly met, it is expected from 2013 increased constraints on defense budgets. Competition between the needs of different armies, between sovereignty and "more open" capa-bilities, will necessarily lead to severe trade-offs, where the power of industrial lobbies will not be a minor factor. From this point of view, and we have already seen with the selection of the supplier of the PPT truck, there is concern that the lobby of the French Land System Industry will be short against the naval and aeronautic fields. Whereas the scheduled end of the manufac-turing of the VBCI for France is now approaching (the assembly of vehicles for export, if any, would be within the buyer country), NEXTER need to succeed urgently in a grand strategy not to risk a new social plan in the next few years.

David SPINDLER Spindlerconsulting

FRANCE : BEWARE THE SCORPION

During the IAV 2011 exhibition in London (7-10 February), the 01db-Metravib European company presented its PILARw gunshots detector. This was the latest version of this gunshots detection system meant to be installed on land vehicles. The PILARw is not only a vehicle self-protection system but also a tactical tool. For example, thanks to the integration of a GPS (GPS included in the con-figuration but also compatible with military GPS), it serves to compare the GPS positions of enemy fires with position of friends and therefore to determine in real time what is the best strategy for response and/or in-terception avoiding friendly fires. This system also gives the caliber of the detected weapons : ≤ 7.62 mm and >7.62 mm. Further to the preparation of the mission, the software of the PILARW is used for debriefing thanks to the memorization of the events that occurred (position, caliber, date and hour, etc.). PILARw is therefore an ideal system for the integration of these data in the digitalised battle space. Several Forces made no mistake; the display of the PILARw is available for the crew and often for the Gunner ; how-ever the Commander, is provided with the information directly upon a screen of his BMS (Battlefield Management System).

PILARw at IAV 2011 © ARTEM DEFENSE

VEHICLE PILARW - THE FIRING DETECTOR BECOMES A TACTICAL TOOL

A.TARGÉ ARTEM DEFENSE

NAVAL : WILL EUROPE BE ONE DAY PRESENT AT THE RENDEZ-VOUS ?

PAGE 18

It was difficult not to notice the Euro-

pean Union during the 2010 edition of

the Euronaval exhibition. The Military

Staff of the European Union (EUMS)had

its own booth. So did the greatest Euro-

pean Defence companies. During the

exhibition, Antoine Bouvier (MBDA)

and Patrick Boissier (DCNS) were advo-

cating for more and more Europe dur-

ing conferences.

With the decrease of domestic orders

and the end of the large national pro-

grammes, the perspectives for the

European industrialists are indeed un-

certain.

Thus, TKMS has terminated four 212A

type submarines for the German Navy

and the last is scheduled for 2013, but

additional orders might have to wait

the renewal of the ships, i.e. more than

twenty years. In Italy the problem is

identical, with the possibility of not

having national orders for fifteen odd

years, after the setting into service in

2015 and 2016 of two 212A types.

What is certain is the future will see

budget cut-backs; the announcement

by the British government to reduce

the military expenditures of the coun-

try by 8% clearly illustrates the extent.

The industrialists are therefore com-

pelled to seek new outlets on the ex-

port or niche markets. But here, the

Europeans shipyards are confronted

with the emergence of new competitors

proposing products with very competi-

tive prices.

Certainly, some equipment manufactur-

ers have joined forces, Thales with

those involved with submarine detec-

tion in the United Kingdom, but, ac-

cording to Jean-Marie Poimboeuf,

president of Euronaval and of the GI-

CAN, “nothing has occurred with the

shipyards over the last ten years” 2. For

example, DCNS has called several times

the German leader TKMS for more co-

operation between them.

But as long as in the minds of the Euro-

pean leaders there remains traces of

Westphalian logics, as long as Europe

will be considered as a promotion tool of

its own interests, each European mem-

ber will just stutter as regards questions

of defence.

The economical crisis is a chance for

Europe and the Europeans. It could also

be the last. Time goes by. The gaps are

widening and the capability of the Euro-

peans to defend their interests is and

will ever more be the question. In these

times of globalisation and the shifting of

the main of the world economy towards

South East Asia, the drawback from the

affairs of the world is unfortunately not

a viable strategic option.

Witnesses to this are the uncertainties

as regards resources. However, the

« London Agreements » remind one that

bilateral agreement scan override failed

inter-community logics and open up to

integration logics.

2 Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, « L’Europe avance en ordre dispersé », Le Figaro, 25 october 2010.

«1 European shipyards face an uncertain future », Jane’s International Navy, October 2010, pp. 47-53, p. 48

Antonin TISSERON Research fellow at Thomas More Institute

Eve BONNARDEL Project manager at GICAN

But the latter preferred to follow the tracks

of a foreign investor by entrusting 80% of

three subsidiaries of the group to the

Emirati MAR Abu Dhabi.

Also, the recent announcement of the di-

vorce in between the French manufacturer

and the Spanish Navantia has clearly

showed the limits of cooperation pro-

grammes incapable of creating long lasting

partnerships between European industries.

As explained Laurent Collet-Billon, General

Delegate for Armament in the columns of

the journal distributed during the Eurona-

val exhibition, “the alternative is simple:

either the European industrialists identify

sufficient common interest to become allies

and reinforce their positions, or they decide

to go solo to face markets and competition.”

For States, the question lies in stimulating

rapprochements whilst the industrial con-

text remains split on the European level.

Submarine warfare, in particular mine war-

fare, seems according to the DGA, to be the

only federating subject for the years to

come.

The implementation of industrial alliances

around common programmes for the ex-

port markets is another route to follow to

favour cooperation.

FREMM frigate (3D image) - source : web