European Armament Cooperation in the framework of the European Security and Defence College
European Armament Cooperation in the framework of the European Security and Defence College pursues several objectives: networking among armament experts, knowledge of respective organisations as EDA, OCCAR and NSPA, the specific conditions of the European Defence Market with the related armament industry and finally, to appreciate the values of cooperation. Backed by this approach, EU Member States should be in the position to commonly develop and procure military capabilities for Europe, and when necessary, to deploy these capabilities together to operations and missions.
In today’s world, these efforts are of outstanding importance, since European Security is challenged by numerous threats like fragmentation of the defence landscape. It is in this context that the High Representative of the European Union, Ms. Federica Mogherini, presented the “European Union Global Strategy” to Heads of State or Government of EU Member States in June 2016. This strategy is now in its implementation phase and consequently, a new set of capability priorities has been derived as a base line for future European capability development. Beside processes and technical standards, the aim of closing capability gaps requires well trained and educated armament experts. Experts, who also appreciate to collaborate with their colleagues in other Member States, since cooperation is often the best way to achieve lasting results. And could save ressources at the same time.
Only together we can better manage future challenges for a stronger Europe in Security and Defence. The Awareness Level Course of European Armament Cooperation has been conducted at EDA and provided first basic information about ongoing important initiatives like PESCO, CARD and the European Defence Fund. Additional contributors to Europe’s defence, like OCCAR and NATO, have provided their views too. About 30 participants of many EDA Member States, plus five from a third state – Switzerland – and six from a Non-EU organization – OCCAR – have successfully been graduated at EDA on October3, 2019.
European Armament Cooperation Awareness Level Course is a project among EDA, ESDC and Austria. It will be followed by the Expert Level Course by end of November in Zagreb, Croatia.
