EUTM Mali’s problematic strategy – more rebuilding than fielding an army

The European Unions afford to beef up Mali’s armed forces since 2013 is just before its fourth extension. Germany, one of the backbone nations of this military training mission, allready prolongued the engagement of its armed forces – Bundeswehr – within European Union Training Mission Mali (EUTM) until May 2019.

EUTM training of Malis armed forces

Soldiers like it to compare their weapons. German EUTM soldier and FAMA special forces recruit during a training lesson near camp Koulikoro, Mali – photo: Bjoern Mueller / all rights reserved.

The broad goal of EUTM: „to contribute to the restoration of FAMAs military capacity“ according to its mandate. In 2012, the Forces Armées et de Sécurité du Mali (FAMA) were overchallenged to meet insurgent Tuareg and Islamists because of bad leadership, inapt tactis and material. Whole units were massacred or fled. As a result, younger officers were frustrated and revolted against the military brass and the government. The chain of command broke up. The army imploded. Only a military intervention from France prevented Islamists from breaking through the capital Bamako. In the summer of 2013, a new government was elected and there is a peace process with the Tuareg rebels, but it’s unstable. The states lack of monopoly on the use of force means that more and more self-defense militias are emerging across the country, and the fight against Jihadists is uspcaling from North to Middle Mali. In this brutal environment the FAMA tries to gain foothold again.  Weiterlesen

Germany won’t intervene in GB’s Eurofighter deal with Saudi Arabia

After reports about an upcoming Eurofighter deal between Great Britain and Saudi Arabia the question rose within the SiPo bunch whether Germany would / could block the deal because of Saudi Arabias Jemen war. 

An often mentioned argument: The Germans could veto the deal with a delivery stop of  „Made in Germany“ jet parts. Now I get the feedback from the German MoD on the issue. Their position: Germany couldn’t block Britains Eurofighter deal with the Saudis. According to the ministry, the Eurofighter conventions from 1986 include the warrant, that no partner nation prevents the sale or the permission of products or systems of the programme to third parties. The original MoD feedback in German:

„Gemäß den getroffenen Vereinbarungen von 1986 der Eurofighter Partnernationen Deutschland, Großbritannien, Italien und Spanien unterbindet keine Partnernationen den Verkauf oder die Genehmigung von Produkten oder Systemen des Programms an Dritte. 
Es gilt eine gegenseitige Informationspflicht im Vorfeld eines beabsichtigten Verkaufs, um angemessene Konsultationen zwischen den Partnernationen zu ermöglichen. 
Deutschland wurde von Großbritannien gemäß den geltenden Vereinbarungen über den geplanten Verkauf der Flugzeuge an Saudi Arabien informiert.“

EU tank arsenal with Leopard-2: An useful and realizable defense project for Europe?

Since Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 its common sense within EU states: the use of miliary force is back in politics, serious land forces are important again. Main battle tanks are regarded as their backbone. But especially on heavy tanks the Europeans are weakly positioned – 17 types exist within their armies. In the event of war differences in technology, crew numbers and operational doctrines will hamper massively joint operations. Furthermore, especially the bordering EU states to Russia do not have any MBTs or first of all outdated Sowjet fabricates. Others like Germany heavily reduced their tank fleet only a short while ago or ceased them like the Netherlands. These weaknesses the European Defence Agency (EDA) is targeting with the project of an EU tank arsenal which should enhance the readiness of EU member states tank forces. 

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An Austrian Leopard-2 A4 during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2017 at Grafenwoehr, Germany – photo: U.S. Army by Spc. Nathanael Mercado

The EU-Agency, founded in 2004, has the commission of the union states to develop projects which advance a common EU defense. The idea of the EDA projection: Owner states of Leopard-2 tanks, the most frequent tank pattern in the EU, should modernize their older versions to the newest standard A7. That could be potenially: Germany, Finland, Greece, Austria, Poland, Sweden and Spain. Afterwards they rent them to EU members without modern MBTs. The exact funding concept has been still to be determined. Its probably envisaged that the tank lessors take over the investments for the modernisation and recoup them with the rents over a time period of ten years. This should create a win-win situation for tank providers and purchasers. Some are getting some steady inflows to their defence budget, the others modern heavy tanks. Its the main goal of the EDA project – official name ‘Optimisation of the Main Battle Tank Capability in Europe with initial focus on Leopard 2 (OMBT-Leo2)‘ – to equip the East European member states with modern Leopard-2 and thereby boosting the interoperability with EU armies from Western Europe. More than 300 Leopard tanks could be alloted on this way so the estimation of the defence news service Griephan. The purchasers of the tanks integrate and operate them in their landforces but the servicing and crew training for those tanks would be centralized over a virtual ‚EU tank arsenal‘ – organized as a grouping of European defense companies.

A German defence company developed the concept

The lead of such an arsenal would be readily undertaken by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), the producer of the Leopard-2. The concept of an EU tank arsenal was originally developed by this German defense company, later borrowed from the EDA and is now under elaboration as ‚OMBT-Leo2‘. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann pursues two business targets with an EU tank arsenal. Firstly with projection into the future: The EDA project with an maintenance bundled over KMW would be best to further distribute the Leopard-2 technology over the EU. Furthermore the arsenal creates a perfect base to establish the planed German-French MBT as a EU standard tank. KMW and its french partner Nexter (manufacturer of the French MBT Leclerc) are believed for the production of this ‚Leoclerc‘. Weiterlesen