Our Studies
Finabel conducts a variety of studies regarding interoperability particularly those that our member states are currently struggling with. This website database has the last five years of unclassified studies. Please feel free to download any studies that interest you.
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The Baltic’s response to Russia’s Threat - How Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania reacted to the recent actions of the russian federation
Sharing a border with Russia has always been a major cause for concern for Baltic countries. However, the fear of a potential invasion from Moscow has strongly increased in the past decades, due to a multitude of factors: Russia’s militarisation policies and the illegal annexation of Crimea. This paper aims to assess the key threats to the Baltic states coming from Russia. It will also look at the way the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have reacted – both autonomously and supported by the international organisations they are part of –, and the necessary issues that must be addressed in the future…
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Possibilities and Challenges to the Creation of a Cooperative European Defence System
The European security environment has been subject to a large amount of changes within the last two decades. For this reason, the creation of a structured European defence system has become a primary necessity for European states. Being involved in a highly volatile security environment and facing a myriad of economic, political, and practical problems, European countries started to understand that the only way to form a structure that could give them sufficient means to guarantee their security must be cooperative in nature…
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The Army of Tomorrow: Private military and security companies’ contribution to the military and security landscape
Over the last years, and particularly since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the security sector has been shifting from state-centred monopoly towards a variety of non-state actors including the private sector and its massive corporations. Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC) have been operating on the combat field in the name of state actors, for economic profit. They have been providing services in multiple areas of expertise such as logistics, consulting, intelligence gathering, training troops and for providing humanitarian security. These commercial entities have become part of international public governance…
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Army Cyber Training and Education within Finabel Member States
The cyber sector has become increasingly important for military planning over the past decade. Cyber warfare is a rising trend at the international level, and the threat of potential attacks on military and governmental networks, as well as business infrastructures, is more pressing than ever. With the rapid evolution of the cyber field, relevant training and awareness of armed forces needs to be increased at the national and European level. Yet, there is still plenty of initiatives to be taken on both levels. As European Parliament’s rapporteur Urmas Paet stated in June 2018, “cyber defense remains a core competence of the member states, but due to the borderless nature of cyberspace, it is impossible for one state to tackle the threats and challenges alone.”…
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Behind pesco- the past and future (2018)
After a long period of wars that devastated Europe for the first half of the 20th century, Europeans were inspired by a vision of lasting peace. More than 70 years later, Europe has experienced the longest period of peace in its troubled historye the ruler of the world”. Artificial intelligence is indeed no longer relegated to science-fiction alone. It is an on-going revolution for societies, industries and eventually even armies.
Despite this, the world is facing new challenges and threats. On a European level, as well as on a global level, tensions are rising and nations face challenges stemming from economic, environmental and technological drivers…
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Towards and Arab NATO? (2018)
This paper aims to give an overview of the stakes to create a Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA). The region has been facing a lot of instability in the past years, due to the many actors with varied interests. This organisation will aim to provide a joint response to conflicts and terrorism, while at the same time counter Iran’s influence in the region.
Considering the geopolitical context and the numerous issues it raises, what are the chances for the organisation to see the light during the next summit organised by the United States?
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BIOTERRORISM: The Invisible Enemy (2018)
In 1832, the Prussian General and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz was writing: “War is to use the right amount of force at the right time and at the right place”. How could we read this sentence nowadays? Would it still be relevant in the 21st century?
The method of fighting a war has changed over time. Especially, the rapid development of biological science, particularly biotechnology and synthetic biology, as well as the fast accessibility to networks, resources, and expertise in these last 25 years led to an increase in the proliferation and the use of more deadly weapons for massive civil disruption by both a number of states and nonstates actors.
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Integration of Women in the Armed Forces (2018)
The role of women in the armed forces (AF) changed over the last decades, especially since the suspension of conscription and the introduction of the market-army in most European countries. Nevertheless, the roles of women within the AF has not been fully investigated. This is clearly shown by the fact that, in contrast to U.S. researches and reports, studies regarding the role of female soldiers among the different European AF are limited, not to say absent. Despite this, the aim of this paper will be to clarify the current roles of women in the AF, as well as giving insights to the main issues that hinder integration of women into the military
The method of fighting a war has changed over time. Especially, the rapid development of biological science, particularly biotechnology and synthetic biology…
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The Role of Cyber Cooperation for Protection, Response and Detterance
In 1997, during a conference in San Francisco, the CEO of Google – Eric Schmidt – affirmed: “The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” (Singer, Friedman, 2014: 35). These words introduce perfectly the complexity of the cyber security sphere and the challenge that all the international actors have to face every day, especially in the defense sector. The necessity to guarantee their security and stability face off against the impossibility to completely govern and control this new sphere. In fact, as no-state concept, cyber presents some characters that are completely different from the traditional security dimensions, making inefficient all the previous defense measures used by the actors for their defense (Terzi, 2015: 13-17).
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Brexit: Its implications on European Union’s Defence Policy
On Thursday 23rd of June 2016, through an historic referendum, British people voted for their exit, or Brexit, from the European Union (EU). The “leave” vote won by 52% to 48%1 . The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting2 . Mrs Theresa May (current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) has confirmed that Britain is leaving the single market to regain control over immigration and end the supremacy of EU laws3 .
Participation and support of members are necessary for the legitimacy of institutions. Withdrawals of members represents a challenge to its legitimacy…
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Mali Crisis Management and Logistics
Nowadays, military intervention has grown consecutively and emphasized the importance of decision-making regarding logistics for any successful intervention. One cannot help but notice the link between the good management of logistics and the action. However, decisions cannot be taken as simply as it seems; there are some factors appearing on the ground while revealing the fact that makes everything hard to predict. All those unexpected situations can be such dramatic that it leads to casualties.
They are perceived as extreme and going beyond the pale, it is a necessity for any military intervention to have some kind of common knowledge of the ground and ways to proceed once deployed…
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European Battlegroups v. NATO Response Forces
In the early 2000s, in the context of the European Security Strategy (2003) and in line with the Helsinki headline goals, the EU member states have agreed to create a European special rapid reaction force, able to undertake a large spectrum of tasks (the Petersberg tasks listed in article 43.1 of the TEU) to prevent and manage crises abroad: the EU Battlegroups (EUBG). As a result, the EU now disposes within its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) toolbox of eighteen EUBGs, each of them comprising either about 1,500 or about 2,500 men of di erent nationalities, quickly deployable (between 5 and 10 days) and self-sustainable for at least 30 days (even 120 days if correctly sustained).
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10 Cyber security Tips to avoid being hacked & to keep your data safe
A short article on the 10 most important Cyber Security tips for today.
Example:
SOCIAL ENGINEERING
• Be prudent like in the real world: clicking… • Always keep an eye to email & website address. • Do not open attachment or link you didn’t expect: even PDF, .doc or images can be fake. • Check physically the virtual demands, do phone check, especially when urgent request! • Consult emails from people you do not know on a webmail interface rather than on the application installed locally on your device. • Do not answer polls requesting personal data.
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Military Shengen: On The Way Towards a True Military Mobility
September 2017, on the tarmac of Papa Air base in Hungary, U.S.-led paratroopers were simulating an airborne operation aimed at repelling an enemy force occupying a NATO ally territory. During the exercises, Hodges, commanding general of the United States Army Europe, was informed that his helicopter would have to divert from its intended route in order to clear customs in Romania. Such passport and customs checks constitute typical routine in Europe since military personnel and equipment are still subject to physical, legal and regulatory barriers. ose obstacles could lead to delays, which even if they are not hugely time-consuming, represent a bureaucratic burden that poses a risk to military speed and proficiency.
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Data manipulation: The cyberthreat of future military operations
Westphalian vision of international relations is pregnant in the way States consider their cyber arsenal: domestic interest and sovereignty reign to insure their equality on the globe. Just to remind that balance of power proved its limits when total war arises from power confrontation. Whereas cyber weapons are disruptive due to attribution endeavor1 , their spreading potential, while they are sweet to public but harmful to targets, represent «threats to the peace» in respect to the interpretation of the first Article of the UN Charter, first paragraph, because they can be considered as an act of agression. But in many cases, conflicts in the cyber space will not reach that point of no return, because when a breach is detected, it is hard to identify its provenance…
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Emerging threats and challenges of the EU Land Forces
Today’s world is rapidly changing. The European neighbourhood has become increasingly unstable during the last 20 years: new opportunities, new practices and new threats have emerged since the end of the Cold War. The digital era has brought opportunities but also raised concerns for our security. IT has increased the volume of available and useful data but paradoxically has made them more vulnerable. Security is an ever-evolving process. That is why it is essential for European states to stay aware and adapt to the opportunities, threats or challenges that shape our future. In this process, the military has a role too. In this food for thought paper, Finabel identifies three challenges and threats European land forces face today – and will increasingly face in the future – and shares reflections to address them…
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The Five Must-Have Qualities of a Tactical Leader in Urban Warfare
Through this paper, Finabel aims at identifying the qualities a tactical leader should possess in general and with a specific focus on combat operation in an urban environment. In this report it is assumed that a tactical leader corresponds to a junior officer with the rank of sub-lieutenant or lieutenant and is in charge of a platoon of approximately 30 soldiers during operations. As post-modern, unconventional urban warfare has become the norm in today’s conflicts, tactical leaders have to cope with its specific features: quarter to quarter combat, blurred distinction between combatants and civilians, improvised explosive devices (IED), ambushes, short-range visibility, proximity with local population, restraints in the use of force, postmodern weaponry like drones, etc…
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Renewable Energies: The Use of Solar Panels in Military Districts
Energy security has become an important issue on the international scene for several reasons. We notice a growing dependence on oil and gas and a depletion of these resources expected to occur in the second half of the century. We also have reasons as climate change and an unceasing rise of prices of raw materials. In this paper we will focus on the use of renewable energies and speci cally on the solar panels and their bene cial e ects. Today we have a signi cant rising of the use of energy by armies and Defense institutions in general, it becomes too expensive to provide all this quantity of energy. An alternative energy solution is essential. The technology using photovoltaic solar panels seems to be more e ective because it allows direct conversion of solar energy into electricity…
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Older Studies
- ETG.1R- THE HANDLING OF DETAINEES
- FG5- EUROPEAN UNION BATTLE GROUP MANUAL
- MAN.3.R- Redeployment after operations
- Relevance and future roles of robotic/unmanned systems for Finabel Land Forces
- FDE.3.R - FINABEL LAND FORCES CAPABILITIES TO ASSIST CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND OTHER AGENCIES WITH ISSUES OF DOMESTIC SECURITY AND CONTINGENCIES.
- MAN.2.R - Doctrine and Solutions for Field Accommodations up to Fixed Installation.
- ENG.3.R - Land units capability requirements for expeditionary operations in a complex operational environment.
- FDE.2.R - How to Enhance International Cooperation Amongst Finabel Land Forces.
- ENG.1.R - The use of helicopters in the EU BG concept, including the MEDEV AC role.
- MAN.1.R - Logistic Support during a conflict / operation in Urban Surroundings.
- C.40.R - Generic Logistic MOU/TA/SoR for EUBG.
- FDE.1.R - To define FINABEL Land Forces contribution to Security Sector Reform(SSR) within the context of a Comprehensive Approach (CA).
- A.26.R - Recommendations for the integrations of effects within the decision-making process and the implications on the structure and organization of HQS.
- T.38.R - To define the future operational environment, its impact on thr different components,the role of Land forces and the priorities to be given as far as force engagement is concerned.
- C.39.R - Interoperability of logistic CIS.
- C.38.R - Developing the Logistics support for an EUBG by Finabel countries.
- G.27.R - Field camps of forces deployed on operation:harmonization of selection criteria for sites and improvement of their protection.
- T.36.R - Employment concept for land forces of Finabel nations.
- C.37.R - Contractor Support to Multinational Forces on Deployed Operations.
- M.17.R - Minimum training standards for Combat Support (CS)/Combat Service Support(CSS) personnel engaged in operations.
- G.26.R - Logistic Force Protection on a multinational operation; how to increase protection of logistic capabilities of Finabel nations deployed individually or collectively on operations.
- A.24.R - Possibilities and limitations of the operational cooperation with private "military" companies.
- A.23.R - The balance of methods of action,within the continiuum of operations, when facing an insurgency. Recommendations relevant to force structure and HQ organisation.
- T.37.R - Generic missions and tasks for an EUBG.
- T.35.R - Relevance and possible roles of combat support units (CSU) in assymmetric warfare.
- C.36.R - Principles of organisation of theatre logistic support for an expeditionary multinational task force.
- M.16.R - Training for military operations in urban areas
- G.24.R - Water supply on operations
- C.35.R - Command and control (C2) in the field of multinational logistics : analysis of multinational commander's authority with respect to national and multinational logistic functions and responsibilities
