VZCZCXRO0015
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHYG
DE RUEHBS #0311/01 0591626
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281626Z FEB 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNMUC/EU CANDIDATE STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000311 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EUN TSPA TSPL
SUBJECT: EUROPE TRENDING TOWARD INCREASED USE OF SPACE IN 
SECURITY ROLES 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The debate over security and space policy 
in Europe tends to favor expanding the role of space for 
security, and military, purposes.  The vast majority of those 
in attendance at a recent European Parliament workshop, 
representing the EU, the European Space Agency (ESA), and 
private think tanks, were in favor of expanding the 
definition of the role of space for European security 
missions.  By contrast, only a single 
Parliamentarian-supported by just a handful nodding in 
approval-called for limitations on the use of space for 
military and security purposes.  Overall, the participants 
conveyed that: 
-- Europe currently suffers from substantial shortcomings in 
its space capabilities, where resolution is crucial to future 
security missions and operations, possibly through the use of 
pooling resources from the individual member states. 
-- Europe's developing satellite navigation capabilities with 
Galileo should be used for planning and in executing European 
Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) operations, as well as in 
use for civil protection in the face of natural disasters. 
-- The under development European satellite earth observation 
system, Global Monitoring for Environment and Security 
(GMES), needs to take an active role in areas such as border 
protection for civil security. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) This workshop took place just a day before the 
Department of Defense announcement and a few days before the 
missile engagement of the uncontrolled U.S. spy satellite. 
It is not yet clear how these events will shape opinions in 
Europe, though overall European public response has been 
muted.  The Commission has expressed no strong opinion while 
remaining appreciative of the prompt notification, though a 
French representative briefly indicated that France has a 
much more negative viewpoint and questions whether action was 
needed.  USEU Econ Officers expect to hear more from European 
officials during meetings over the coming weeks. 
 
¶3. (U) The European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and 
Defense (SEDE), chaired by Dr. Karl von Wogau, on February 14 
hosted a workshop entitled "Space Policy and ESDP," to bring 
together government and industry to debate the role security 
should play in the European Defense Policy.  The European 
Council General Secretariat was represented by Ms. Alda 
Silveira Reis, Deputy Director for Defense Aspects, DG E - 
External Economic Relation, Politico-Military Affairs. 
Geraldine Naja-Corbin, ESA's Policy Office of the 
Director-General; Tomas Valasek, Director of Foreign Policy 
and Defense at the Centre for European Reform and former 
official in the Slovak Ministry of Defense; and Alexander 
Bitter from the German Institute for International and 
Security affairs completed the panel for the session on the 
use of satellites in space for security purposes. 
 
------------------------------- 
Current European Space Capacity 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) All participants decried the current state of European 
space assets, explaining that there are serious shortcomings 
in all areas.  However, most expressed the view that the 
infrastructure exists to remedy these shortcomings, and 
through use of existing resources, it will be possible to 
build a true European satellite constellation.  As it 
currently stands, there are no dedicated optical or radar 
imagery satellites devoted specifically to Europe.  Instead, 
systems such as Helios in France (optical) or SAR-Lupe 
(radar) in Germany are operated and received data is 
controlled by the host countries, and as one participant 
explained, intelligence data is fiercely guarded by the 
owner.  Europe is a little better in the field of 
telecommunications satellites, with an existing constellation 
of five satellites for protected telecoms (no further 
information given).  However, Europe has no existing 
space-based infrastructure for missile defense, relying 
entirely on the U.S. 
 
¶5. (U) Despite these limitations, Europe has two 
organizations dedicated to increasing European capacity in 
space-the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union 
Satellite Center (EUSC). The European Space Agency is not an 
EU controlled entity, but does have a well-defined 
relationship with the EU through the European Space Policy. 
Though ESA's membership includes non-EU members Switzerland 
and Norway and doesn't include the vast majority of Eastern 
 
BRUSSELS 00000311  002 OF 003 
 
 
Europe, ESA develops some systems specifically for EU use and 
control-the most well-known of these is Galileo.  ESA is 
exclusively an R&D organization and then hands over control 
to the final operators.  It has a relatively large budget of 
EUR 3B/year which it receives exclusively from its 
members-France, Germany, and Italy alone make up over 60% of 
the funding.  The EUSC, by contrast, is wholly controlled by 
the EU, as it is an independent agency of the Council.  It is 
a satellite imagery analysis center and has the capacity to 
receive imagery from member state governments.  Up to now, it 
has used almost exclusively commercially acquired imagery, 
but negotiations are in the works for imagery to be supplied 
from France (Helios II) in the coming months, Germany 
(SAR-Lupe), and Italy (Cosmo-Skymed). The EUSC can use the 
data to supply maps, intelligence, and geographic information 
to the Council for use in ESDP planning. 
 
¶6. The Director of the EUSC has held meetings with senior 
officials of the National Geospatial Agency (NGA), and there 
are ongoing discussions aimed at establishing a collaborative 
relationship with the U.S. (Comment: We believe that this 
relationship could be in the long-term interests of the U.S. 
as part of our crisis management cooperation.  Such a 
relationship might slow the push within the EU to develop 
costly and potentially duplicative capabilities.   As the 
EUSC expands its access with respect to member state 
products, a strong U.S.-EUSC connection could also enable 
single-point access to all European imagery and imagery 
analysis capabilities and products. End comment.) 
 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Future Role of Space in Security Operations 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) MEP von Wogau was very clear in his belief that 
European space assets should be made available for security 
purposes.  On both Galileo and GMES, he expressed the view 
that capabilities should be applied equally to ESDP 
operations and to natural disasters such as tsunamis.  The 
soldiers on the ground should have all technical capabilities 
at their disposal to perform the mission, and particularly in 
the case of GMES, Europe needs to emphasize the word 
"security" in its title, according to Wogau.  MEP Phillipe 
Morillon, as did several other attendees, echoed these 
statements, stating that Europe "shouldn't turn a blind eye" 
to space for the military.   The lone dissenting voice, 
belonging to MEP Tobias Pfluger, challenged these statements, 
expressing that a clear red line needs to be established, 
preventing the use of space for any military purposes.  He 
praised the Russian and Chinese efforts to establish a treaty 
for the peaceful use of space, noting that "naturally" the 
U.S. is opposed to such an idea. (Comment: Though MEP 
Pfluger's comments are occasionally echoed in the European 
press, during this meeting, only a handful of attendees 
appeared to be in agreement.  The vast majority followed the 
line of MEP von Wogau.  End comment.) 
 
¶8. (U) Surveillance and ballistic missile defense (BMD) are 
the two areas Europe most needs to improve, according to most 
attendees. Surveillance was listed as most important as 
Europe continues to become involved in more complex military 
operations around the globe.  In ESDP missions-there are more 
than a dozen expected in 2008-such as EUFOR in Chad, 
kowledge of the operational space is increasingl important, 
and surveillance from space, throgh the use of optical/radar 
imagery satellites or satellites to intercept hostile 
communications, will become more critical to mission success. 
 Europe therefore, according to Mr. Valasek from the Centre 
for European Reform, should pool its resources to enable the 
highest level of capability for the least cost to the 
European citizen. Council General Secretariat official Ms. 
Silveira Reis touted the capabilities of the EUSC, explaining 
it is prepared to receive government imagery in support of 
these missions. 
 
¶9. (U) On BMD, Mr. Bitter from the German Institute for 
International and Security Affairs explained that much of 
Europe is not at all prepared for a ballistic missile attack. 
 Existing U.S. ground based radar sites do not cover the 
majority of the continent, and even in the case of a new site 
in the Czech Republic, southeast Europe is still at some 
risk.  Therefore, Europe needs to develop space-based 
ballistic missile detection systems, possibly similar to the 
 
BRUSSELS 00000311  003 OF 003 
 
 
U.S. DSP system for missile launch detection.  There are two 
proposals underway, one for low-Earth orbit (LEO) and one for 
geosynchronous orbit (GEO).  The LEO system, proposed by OHB 
Technology, proposes placing a large number (10-30) of 
satellites in orbit to guarantee persistent coverage.  By 
contrast, EADS-Astrium has proposed a GEO system, to be 
funded primarily by France, to develop two to four satellites 
in GEO for launch detection.  According to Mr. Bitter, 
neither system has been fully approved as of now. 
 
------- 
Outlook 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The opinions displayed during this workshop 
underline a rapidly growing trend throughout Europe toward 
increasing the role of space assets in security operations. 
This idea is well documented through the history and debate 
of Galileo, as Europe looks to reduce dependence on the 
United States in an area it considers to be of strategic 
importance.  The same argument appears to be coming to the 
forefront in discussions about the use and development of 
intelligence and missile defense satellites.  As the number 
and complexity of ESDP operations continues to grow, the need 
for readily-available imagery for operational planning will 
also increase.  The number of dissenting opinions also seems 
to be decreasing rapidly.  Additionally, as the cost of new 
global satellite systems becomes prohibitively expensive as 
mentioned during the workshop, particularly for the smaller 
countries, it is to Europe's advantage to pool resources to 
gain the most capability for the smallest cost to the 
taxpayer. 
 
WOHLERS 
.