From 27 to 29 October 2015, an Awareness Level Module of the European Armament Cooperation Course (EAC) is taking place at the European Defence Agency’s premises. Organised by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and the Austrian Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Sports, the course has attracted the highest number of attendees in its four-year history. Forty-six enrolled students represent thirteen EDA Member States, the European Commission, European External Action Service (EEAS) and Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR). 

The aim of the EAC course is to enhance mutual understanding of the armaments cooperation issues and to serve as a useful networking platform to foster and harmonise armaments cooperation among the Member States. Most of all, it addresses junior personnel who need to gain knowledge and experience in international acquisition and project management. The course also complements the curriculums of available national courses. “We believe that the practitioners who work in national and international armament cooperation can highly profit from the course. We are able to provide them with practical knowledge and understanding of the armament sector along with its frameworks, the stakeholders’ tools and processes as well as challenges and benefits available at the EU level,” says Massimo Guasoni, the EDA Head of Unit Education, Training & Exercise.

Towards Europe’s strategic autonomy 

Rini Goos, the EDA Deputy Chief Executive, welcomed the course participants and, in his speech, he pointed out the key elements for European strategic autonomy and freedom of action: “Apart from working on capabilities, first of all, we must strive to enhance investment in traditional defence research, particularly in collaborative Research & Technology. Secondly, we need a sound European industrial policy. Thirdly, I would like to mention standardisation: a pan-European standardisation approach is the key to increase European competiveness on a global scale and to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base Strategy; it is also the main driver for interoperability. And last but not least, civil-military ‘dual-use’ synergies need to be better exploited. It is only if we move ahead along these four strands of work that Europe will be able to attain strategic autonomy and become a security provider rather than a security consumer”.  

A three-day European Armaments Cooperation Course started 28 Oct. at the European Defence Agency (EDA) in Brussels.

More than 40 participants from sixteen EDA Member States and Serbia, as well as the European Commission, the European Parliament, the EU Military Staff (EUMS) and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), started a three-day European Armaments Cooperation Course. This course, the third of its kind, is organised jointly by EDA and the European Security and Defence College (ESDC). It is divided into two parts: the Awareness Level, now ongoing in Brussels, and the Expert Level, which will take place from 24 to 28 November in Prague, Czech Republic.

The course is intended primarily for practitioners working in national and international armament cooperation who need to gain knowledge and experience in European acquisition and project management. It aims to provide them with a better understanding of frameworks, stakeholders, tools, and processes of European armaments cooperation, as well as its many benefits and challenges.

Learning from each other

As the EDA Deputy Chief Executive, Rini Goos, said today: “We, in Europe, need to be clear on how we work together, learning from each other and tackling co-operation from a European perspective. This is essential and in the long-term I would like to see a common understanding and approach emerge, supported where required through training and education courses like this one. This is where I see the EDA adding the most value and impact; improving the delivery of future European military capabilities to make the Common Security and Defence Policy more credible in line with the 2013 European Council conclusions.”

EDA's work in this domain started in 2006 when the Agency commissioned a study on cooperative lessons learned. Best practice and education were shortlisted among key enablers for cooperative programmes. The topic received widespread support from Member States and in 2007 the EDA Steering Board, in National Armaments Directors configuration, directed the Agency to focus in particular on education in European armaments acquisitions.

Education and training platform

In 2009, the Czech Republic’s EU Presidency supported the creation of a new European armaments cooperation course; providing an EU-wide education and/or training platform where a common understanding of a European approach to armaments cooperation can be promoted and nurtured. EDA Member States welcomed the initiative and later that year the EDA Steering Board, in National Armaments Directors configuration, approved the top-level European Armaments Co-operation (EAC) Framework, under which the current course has been established.

In 2013, thanks to the initiative of Austria and other like-minded countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, the course took its current form. It followed the success of the pilot European Armaments Cooperation Course organised in Brussels and Stadtschlaining in 2012.

A real and urgent need

Giampaolo Lillo, EDA Cooperation Planning and Support Director, said: “The technical, legal and administrative complexities of cooperation programmes – and the lack of expertise on how to tackle them – appear to be part of the reason why the potential of European armament cooperation remains largely untapped. This is why I think this course aims at the right target, responding to a real and urgent need. Apart from the obvious interest to practitioners, it is also very useful for anybody involved in the legislative process at EU level.”

EDA, in its effort to offer Member States the most effective and tailored support to enhance their interoperability, upon its restructuring created in the Cooperation Planning and Support Directorate a dedicated Education, Training and Exercises Unit to address education and training activities in an harmonised way. This course is one of its outcomes.

More information

European Security and Defence College website