Anticipating Private Military and Security Companies in Armed Conflict

Since the end of the Cold War, the amount of private military and security companies (PMSCs) involved in armed conflicts has increased rapidly. In armed conflicts, the PMSCs carry out tasks that used to be performed by governmentally armed forces. These include non-coercive as well as coercive activities, ranging from military training and intelligence analysis to offensive combat and interrogation of prisoners (Tonkin, 2012, 1). Meanwhile, it remains unclear to what extent PMSCs increase the severity of armed conflicts (Lees and Petersohn, 2021, 1). It is clear, however, that the activities of PMSCs in armed conflicts impact European land forces and their objectives. In Libya, for instance, Russia has backed the Libyan National Army (LNA) with PMSC forces, among other things. Allegedly, Russian leaders hoped this could help them gain control over oil reserves in Libya, on which several European countries depend. Besides, Libya is located strategically on NATO’s southern flank (Cragin and MacKenzie, 2020). This is just one example of a country where foreign PMSCs and European armed forces are involved in a conflict. The question is how European land forces can anticipate the presence of foreign PMSCs in armed conflicts in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Therefore, this article will focus on the operational rather than the legal and ethical aspects of the activities of PMSCs in armed conflict.

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The Contribution of the EU Member States to the CSDP Framework

The current legal framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) was set in stone in 2009 by the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The CSDP is described in detail by the Articles 41 to 46 of the TEU. Article 41, paragraph 2 of the TEU, prohibits expenditure arising from military operations from being charged to the EU budget. Therefore, a large percentage of the military operations costs should be covered by the EU Member States (MS). According to Article 42 of the TEU, the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Council unanimously decide on matters related to the CSDP.

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EUFOR Crisis Response Operation Core: Enhancing Resilience through Interoperability

Following the Juncker’s Commission White Paper Scenario “Who Wants to Do More, Does More”, the Permanent Structured Cooperation’s (PESCO) 25 members are currently developing 47 projects covering the areas of training, land, maritime, air, cyber, and space. Among land initiatives, EUFOR stands out in fostering a coherent full spectrum force package as envisaged by PESCO’s core aim.

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Germany Invests in New Military Space Command

Germany has recently announced the development of a military space command, and they are far from the first country to do so. Indeed, several countries have recently decided to allocate significant resources and funding for the exploration of space. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany’s defence minister, gave a statement in response to the creation of the space command, claiming that the underlying causes for its creation were due to “the increasing dependence of the armed forces on space-supported data, services and products and for the overall prosperity of the German people” (Machi, 2021).

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Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA)

When the Covid-19 crisis led to a lockdown of all activities, the lack of digital literacy from governmental bodies and defence personal exposed both a new threat and an opportunity. Bearing this situation in mind, NATO members (NM) have agreed at the 31st annual summit, held in June 2020 in Brussels, to initiate the Defence Innovation Accelerator of the North Atlantic (DIANA) that aims to reach full operability capacities by 2023. DIANA is NATO’s version of the U.S Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It will reinforce transatlantic cooperation regarding critical technologies to assure the security and defence digital literacy of NM.

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