NATO's military commanders should be breathing a sigh of relief to see that ground is at last being broken in the interminable deadlock over transatlantic defence co-operation. And it's the defence industry on both sides of the Atlantic that is pointing the way. There is nothing revolutionary about forging Euro-US industrial alliances to produce equipment that allows NATO allied forces to work together effectively, but fresh ways of addressing the problem are always a help.
In this case, the initiative is being taken by US group Northrop Grumman. The US Department of Defense is supporting its move to target transatlantic business alliances as a way of closing the so-called operational "capability gap" between European and US forces. The gap was woefully obvious as recently as the Kosovo conflict, when Europe's intelligence, surveillance and precision strike assets were practically non-existent. And Northrop Grumman's proposed alliance with Germany's Dasa in surveillance and reconnaissance should help close the divide.
The gap can be narrowed by eliminating duplication of design effort, freeing resources for procurement and creating systems that are interoperable. For the idea to work, the DoD has simply to oblige by approving the deal, easing technology transfer restrictions and reforming export controls. Europe, too, has to make concessions. It needs to make its defence procurement more unified and efficient, because the capability gap won't close if member states keep spending too much for what they get too slowly. So many NATO projects have ended in disaster, either because the USA did not want its allies to have sensitive technology, or because one country pulled funding, or because in-service deadlines were so disparate between participating nations, that the logic of joint production fell away.
Europe's industry leaders are also pushing Europe's politicians to centralise all defence equipment purchasing to match the pace of industrial consolidation and bring about interoperability among the allies.
If industry either side of the Atlantic is paving the way for an effective transatlantic defence partnership, the least governments can do is to remove the roadblocks. NATO's members, meanwhile, must move ahead faster with key programmes such as the NATO Advanced Radar project, or business alliances will be of little benefit to industry or the military. And unless these business alliances are seen to be of benefit, the barriers to full transatlantic equity mergers will remain in place.
Source: Flight International