Pulling the plug on Germany’s Euro Hawk project won’t have consequences for NATO’s surveillance program using “Global Hawk” models. But critics argue a joint European drone project would was better.
The canceled German Euro Hawk drone project will usually not have consequences on the same project by NATO. The alliance plans to make use of five drones of the worldwide Hawk Block 40 type for its “Alliance Ground Surveillance” (AGS) system.
According to NATO, plans is not suffering from the German decision. The worldwide Hawk drone built by US company Northrop Grumman is essentially the version the system’s in accordance with – the Euro Hawk drone Germany ordered is a modified version of the worldwide Hawk 20 model, an earlier version of the worldwide Hawk 40 which NATO now plans to take advantage of.
Exact images from far away
At the May 2012 summit in Chicago, the allies had agreed on aquiring unarmed surveillance drones. They’re scheduled for use by 2017 and to be stationed in Sicily. Estimates put the value for the five drones at around 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).
Fourteen NATO states are involved: Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and the united states. The worldwide Hawk drone could fly as high as 20 kilometers (12 miles) and is ready to take clear pictures of the bottom even from such heights – precise enough to still spot individuals.
No European project?
The NATO project goes to continue despite the German decision to halt its program. However the situation in Germany have been met with criticism in Brussels. Michael Gahler, security spokesman of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) within the EU parliament, told DW that Germany should rather have pushed for a eu solution than attempting to go it alone.
After all, European countries were facing the similar security threats, and each state had too little money to develop a system by itself.
“Such projects are great examples of the way such things could be done in a joint effort – especially when something new is being developed. i am hoping that everyone will learn from that mistake,” he said.
Gahler believes a ecu project would have made more sense from an economic perspective besides.
“You can’t see this simply as an army issue. Those drones are before everything not a way of fighting.” In about 90 percent of the cases, they might “be utilized in a civilian manner for surveillance,” for example in agriculture or forestry on the way to spot pollution or fires. With that many areas of use, “it really is sensible to bundle civilian and armed forces resources.”
Northrop Grumman dismisses criticism
The US company producing the drones has come forward to defend itself against German complaints. Berlin had criticized an allegedly missing feature to prevent collisions and lacking documentation needed for buying the drones approved for European airspace.
A Northrop Grumman spokesperson told German weekly “Die Zeit” that Germany had surely never specified what sort of papers were needed for approval and that it was just a prototype that operated without collision protection. That feature would has been implemented within the four other drones Germany had ordered, the corporate said.