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Defence and space: Europe on the move

As 2004 draws to a close, the successful launch of the Helios IIA observation satellite by the Ariane 5 launcher on Saturday, 18 December is a strong symbol of European defence cooperation.

Three countries – France, Spain and Belgium – joined forces in this space programme: ten years of efforts, during which governments and industry have worked together. Along with the Syracuse III long-distance telecommunications satellite, scheduled to be launched in March 2005, Helios IIA is an essential component of Europe's ability to assess situations and conduct operations autonomously. Helios IIA addresses the growing operational needs of our three countries' armed forces. Complementing its predecessor Helios IA, in service for over nine years, it will allow the system to take a far greater number of images and reduce image acquisition time.

The Helios satellites are developed by more than 30 French, Spanish and Belgian industrial groups which together symbolize the booming pan-European technological cooperation.

The successful launch of Helios IIA is not only a major event for the space community but also an important moment for Defence Europe. Helios IIA is a genuine political and military crisis-management tool because of its decisive contribution to European intelligence capabilities. Our respective armed forces can thus also benefit from additional capabilities, more accurate images and faster reaction time.

Fired by this success, we must pursue this path: today, as the twenty-first century gets under way and at a time when the United States is resolutely leading the space revolution with impressive capabilities and China has begun to invest in the development and use of such systems, the Europeans must together take up the challenge of space. The importance of space technology today calls for an effort comparable to that which led to the emergence of nuclear power in the 1960s.

As we have seen in the recent armed conflicts, in Kosovo as well as in Iraq, space-based technology is increasingly at the heart of modern military systems. Everyone knows that its use is a way of strengthening military capabilities by improving their effectiveness. This applies particularly to operations far from home; above all, our autonomous situation assessment depends on it.

In the face of today's diffuse and manifold threats, it is thus essential for Europeans to step up their research into the military use of space, through stronger innovatory strategic intelligence and telecommunications capabilities. We must also increase our efforts in other applications of space technology such as listening in, early warning and space surveillance. Galileo, which will be accessible to the armed forces, is a first achievement in the satellite navigation field. But we must go still further.

With her 2003-2008 Military Estimates Act, France is endeavouring to get her European partners to share her vision, her conviction and persuade them to develop a more ambitious space policy. Through her active policy on space demonstrators [prototype], France is contributing to Europe's space drive and the development of the European industrial and technological base. Spain and Belgium are also determined to take Europe forward in these areas.

This is the goal of ECAP's (European Capabilities Action Plan) Space Group. We must now create a new impetus. Our efforts must be conducted in cooperation with our partners, because the only way of addressing needs on this scale is for Europe to combine forces. Right now we must define the programmes we shall carry out together in the near future.

We shall also have to develop the necessary technology. Our research effort will give a boost to this process which must be resolutely European. This is the framework in which France has decided to begin developing the space systems for the next generation of Helios satellite. Already, a Helios IIB satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2008.

France, Spain and Belgium are inviting their partners to join them in the initial studies taking place in 2005 in order together to build the programmes Europe needs. The successful launch of Helios II is a major step forward for our space policy, which is a source of optimism and commits us resolutely to look to the future. It proves, if that were still necessary, the Europeans' growing determination to take up together tomorrow's strategic challenges./.