Defense: Dassault Aviation prime contractor to standardize European collaborative combat

The air combat system of the future (Scaf) is being built in stages. Pending the launch on March 20 of the industrial phase of the Franco-German-Spanish programme, another initiative has been launched. Dassault Aviation has officially launched the EICACS (European Initiative for Collaborative Air Combat Standardization) project, which aims to make European air forces interoperable.

This programme, whose project management has been entrusted to Dassault, brings together 37 industrial and research organizations from the European Union (see table below). To carry it out, the European Commission finances it with 75 million euros. It consists of creating a standard so that all European air forces, regardless of the aircraft they use, can store, exchange and process the data collected by military aircraft.

A question of sovereignty

“EICACS will strengthen the ability of European air forces to carry out their missions increasingly efficiently and to act in coalitions involving both manned and unmanned systems, future air combat systems and existing platforms, as well as their developments,” explained the French aircraft manufacturer during the project’s kick-off meeting held at its Saint-Cloud site near Paris.

This device is also a question of European sovereignty against the technological power of the United States that is imposed on NATO through its rules. Currently, these exchanges are carried out with the Liaison 16 standard based on protocols defined for the United States. Whether Americans will agree to share data collected by “made in the USA” devices remains to be seen. like the F-16 or the F-35 with the European Rafales, Eurofighters or Gripens.

beyond the air

This problem is not limited to air travel. Last December, the European Commission published initial funding of 1.2 billion euros for the next generation of combat aircraft, but also for tanks and ships and for the development of defense technologies.

This budget aims to co-finance some sixty projects selected by Thierry Breton, the French European Commissioner responsible for the internal market, defense and space. Created in 2019, the European Defense Fund (EDF) has a budget of 7.9 billion euros from 2021 to 2027.