An often heard complaint about the
European defence industry is that it is divided and that every
country has its own production facilities. An infographic
by the European Commission on the lack of Integration in Defence
clarified this for land and air systems. The figure shows that the
United States has eleven types of fighter aircraft for 2,279
fighters. In the European Union, there are nineteen different types
for 1,703 fighters. The message is clear: more cooperation and
investment needed. But the given facts do not root in reality. The Military
Balance, the widely-used standard work on militay capacities,
gives significant different figures on number of fighter aircraft and
programs (see table below).
Despite this vagueness the infographic
of the European Commission is copied and translated by the Dutch
Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) in a
report on the state of the Dutch security policy, although there
seems not much science in this picture, but more a desire for growing
investment in defence to be able to follow the US. A sincere concern
for the position of the European Aeronautic in European capitals can
be doubted, but one may even wonder if this concern is needed.
Firstly
the aeronautic industry takes already by far the biggest slice of
armament programs. According to the AeroSpace
and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD),
a
European lobby group, almost 50 per cent of turnover in 2016, €
45 billion, came from military aeronautics. A share likely to
grow because of the fast growing popularity of drones and satellites
for overseeing and commanding the battle field. (Naval 23% and land
28% of European defence industrial turnover.)
In
the European inventories, there are 10 different fighter aircraft
(included 3 Russian types as a legacy of the Cold War period). At the
same time many of the war planes flying around in
Europe are bought in the US, a fact contrasting strangely to the
expressed concern for European aeronautics. European air forces fly 7
types of US combat aircraft, the same number is flown by the US navy
alone on a
budget 16% below the combined EU-budgets
for the armed forces. US fighters are mostly produced
by Lockheed Martin, but also Boeing has its share. On the other hand
the US is not operating a single one of the ten different European
types, except for 24
Czech light subsonic attack jets for military training purposes
provided by two civil companies (see table). When European
governments would really concerned for EU arms industry they should
buy European fighter planes.
The 'make America great again' policy
is nothing new and many European governments are Uncle Sam's helping
hands for a range of political, military and economic reasons. The
F-35 or Joint Strike Fighter is making its debute in many EU
countries at the cost of European fighters on offer. After weighting
all options the F-35 is said to to have the best quality/price
balance. The Dutch air force and Ministry of Economics were already
in favour of the F-35 when it was in its early development stages and
not tested at all. Reason: keep close links towards the US Air Force
(including its nuclear weapons). Complaints on the unequal
opportunities in the competition for Airbus, SAAB and Dassault are
often voiced by these European companies. Airbus
e.g. communicated after Belgium recently has chosen the F-35 as
the fighter for its air force, that: “Airbus Defence and Space
(…) is aware of the strong links between Belgium and the United
States on defence industrial matters. Therefore, yesterday's decision
does not come as a complete surprise.” But “it is a lost
opportunity to strengthen European industrial cooperation in times
when the EU is called upon to increase its joint defence efforts.”
It is not only the F-35 which is
popular. In the Eastern part of the EU, countries choose the F-16.
Aviation Week recently concluded that the 'F-16
market share continues to grow in Europe' and mentioned on 2018
alone potential procurement in Croatia (ex-Israeli, doubted early 2019) and Slovakia purchasing 14
Block 70/72 F-16s, which will make it the operator of the most
advanced F-16s in Europe. But also Greece is upgrading its 80 F-16's
with active, electronically scanned array radars. So far on the
concern on the European aeronautic industries in European capitals.
Despite those disadvantages Airbus and
Dassault start next year with Europe's next-generation fighter jet
program. The two companies will now jointly draft a common concept
for the new Future Combat Air System (FCAS), this includes the
fighters design, its weapons and connectivity with other aircraft,
including UAVs. The FCAS
program is envisioned as a complex system of systems comprising a
new-generation fighter aircraft, unmanned combat aircraft, future
air-launched missiles, and swarms of small drones, all interconnected
with satellites, other aircraft, NATO networks as well as national
and allied ground and naval combat systems.
Facts and the fictional
'we-Europeans-run-foolishly-far-behind' are hard to separate. But
when looking into European fighter programs of the past thirty years
it is crystal clear that the European combat planes are exported to
Brazil (cooperates with Italian Leonardo), Chile, Egypt, India, Iraq,
Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.
Most of the customers can be found in the Middle East, the proverbial
powder keg and the scene of war and gross human rights violations. On
the FCAS, debate has already started in the military
and civil
press on how Germany will implement its arms export policy.
The current most successful combat
plane is the Typhoon or European Fighter Aircraft (an German,
Spanish, Italian and UK product). It has ten different customers
located in Europe and the Middle East and 72 of them have been sold
to Saudi Arabia. Problematic for Germany, that has a stricter human
rights approach towards arms export than most big EU countries? It
was solved by the UK taking the responsibility for the exports to the
Middle East. In case of the FCAS Paris will have no problem to play a
similar role.
Fighter
Aircraft Inventories 2018 United States and Europe (EU, NATO+)
|
||||
US
|
||||
(No.)
Type
|
Inventory
of
|
Europe
|
In
production
|
|
1
|
Boeing
F/A-18 (super) Hornet
|
US
(700, A/A+B+C+D+E+F)
|
Finland
(62, C+D)
Spain
(85, EF-18A+ EF-18A+B MLU)
(Switzerland)
(31, C+D)
|
Since
1983
|
2
|
Lockheed
Martin (LM) F-35A Lightning II
|
US
(122)
|
Italy
(7),
Netherlands
(2)
|
Since
August 2016
|
3
|
LM
F-35B Lightning II
|
US
(50)
|
UK
(13)
|
Since
July 2015
|
4
|
LM
F-35C Lightning II
|
US
(28)
|
Since
January 2018
|
|
5
|
LM
AV-8B Harrier II
|
US
(128)
|
Italy
(16: AV-8B+TAV-8B)
Spain
13: AV-8B+AV-8B)
|
1981–2003
|
6
|
LM
F-16 Fighting Falcon
|
US
(1013, A+B+C+D)
|
Belgium
(59, AM+BM)
Denmark
(44, AM+BM)
Greece
(175, CG/DG Block30/50+CG/DG Block 52+ C/D Block 52+ADV)
Netherlands
(61 F-16AM/BM)
(Norway)
(57, AM+BM)
Poland
(48 C Block 52+D Block 52+)
Portugal
(30, AM+BM)
Romania
(9, AM+BM)
(Turkey)
(253, C Block30+C Block 50+D Block 30+D Block 50)
|
Since
January 1974
|
7
|
Boeing
F-15E Strike Eagle
|
US
(454, C+D)
|
Since
July 1972
|
|
8
|
McDonnell
Douglas
F-4E
Phantom II
|
Greece
(20)
Turkey
(20)
|
1958–1981
|
|
9
|
Northrop
F-5B Tiger Freedom Fighter
|
US
(43, F+N)
|
Spain
(109)
(Switzerland)
(54: E+F)
(Turkey)
(53, A+B)
|
1959–1987
|
10
|
LM
F-22 Raptor
|
US
(179)
|
Not in production. Israel?
|
1996–2011
|
11
|
Fairchild
Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II
|
US
(227)
|
1972–1984
|
|
12
|
LM
AC-130J Ghostrider
|
US
(15)
|
2012-2021
|
|
13
|
AC-130W
Stinger II
(former
MC-130W Dragon Spear)
|
US
(12)
|
Since
2010
|
|
European
Union/(NATO Europe)
|
Customers
rest of world
|
|||
1
|
Panavia
Aircraft Tornado GR4
|
Saudi
Arabia
|
Cyprus
(6),
Germany
(88, IDS+ECR)
Italy
(68, Tornado IDS+ECR)
UK
(46, GR4/GR4A)
|
1979–1998
|
2
|
Typhoon
/ European Fighter Aircraft (Eurofighter GmbH: Airbus Defence 46%,
BAe Systems 33%, Leonardo 21%.)
|
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
(wiki
list potential sales)
|
Austria
(15)
Cyprus
(6)
Germany
(123)
Italy
(86)
Spain
(61)
UK
(153, FGR4/T3)
|
Since
1994
|
3
|
SAAB
Gripen
|
South
Africa
Thailand
(wiki
list potential sales)
|
Sweden
(97, C+D)
Czech
Republic (14, C+D)
Hungary
(14 C+D)
|
Since
1987
|
4
|
Dassault
Rafale
|
Egypt
India
Qatar
(wiki
list potential sales)
|
France
(162, M F3+B+C)
|
Since
May 2001
|
5
|
Dassault
Mirage
|
Chile
Israel
South
Africa
|
France
(153, 2000N+C+D)
Greece
(43, 2000-5EG Mk2, 2000-5BG Mk2, 2000EG; Mirage 2000BG)
|
Since
July 1973
|
6
|
AMX
Ghibli (Italian/Brazilian: Alenia 46.5%, Embraer 29.7% and
Aermacchi (23.6%)
|
Brazil
|
Italy
(71, AMX+AMX-T)
|
1986–1999
|
7
|
Aero
Vodochody AL-59 ALCA
|
Czech
Republic (16, ALCA+T)
Hungary
(1, leased)
|
1997–2003
and 2016–2017
|
|
Russian
|
||||
8
|
Sukhoi
Su-22
|
See for extensive wiki list |
Poland
(18, UM3K+M4)
|
Since
1966
|
9
|
Mikoyan-Gurevich
(MiG) Mig-21
|
See
for extensive wiki
list
|
Romania
(25, Lancer B+C)
Croatia
(11, bis+UMD)
|
1959
– 1985
|
10
|
MiG-29
Fulcrum
|
See
for extensive wiki
list
|
Bulgaria
(16, A+UB)
Poland
(33. A+UB)
Slovakia
(12, AS+UBS)
|
Since
1981
|
Used
categories in Military Balance listings used for this table.
FGA
= fighter ground attack
FTR
= fighter
ATK
= attack/ground attack
Together
they cover the listed combat aircraft.
Source:
Military Balance 2018 and for 'Customers rest of the world,' the
wikipedia pages for the aircraft listed in the MB.
|
||||
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