Perspective on space and security policy, programmes and governance in Europe

Angeliki Papadimitriou (Corresponding author), Maarten Adriaensen, Ntorina Antoni, Christina Giannopapa

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10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine and provide a holistic assessment of the “Space and Security” Policy in Europe, taking into consideration the European and national Space Strategies, Programmes and Governance. The importance of security in European Union (EU) activities is increasing after a decade of unprecedented crises and challenges of multidimensional nature. Space, as an enabling tool in support of multiple policy areas, can contribute to national and supranational security objectives. Space can contribute to and ultimately reinforce the European integration process. The first part of this paper focuses on the description of the security aspects of the space activities in Europe. The analysis includes the two main extents of space security – security from space and security in space. The second part focuses on the security aspects of the European Union (EU), European Space Agency (ESA) and National Space strategies, policies and programmes. The importance of coordination and cooperation between the stakeholders is emphasised. The final part considers how the European “Space and Security” strategies and policies contribute to European Space Integration.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)183-191
Number of pages9
JournalActa Astronautica
Volume161
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019

Funding

The main EU stakeholders in space and security matters include the European Commission, the Council of the EU, the European Council, the European Parliament, the European Defence Agency (EDA), the EU Satellite Centre (SatCen), the European GNSS Agency (GSA), the European External Action Service (EEAS). Attention is given to the example of space inside the EDA Capability Development Plan (CDP). Additionally, from a user community perspective, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) are directly concerned. Indirectly, a broad range of agencies and bodies has stakes in the EU space and/or security portfolio, including for instance the European Environment Agency (EEA), European Investment Bank (EIB), European Police Office (EUROPOL), Research Executive Agency (REA), SESAR Joint Undertaking and the European Institute for Security Studies (EUISS). Particular attention is given to the European Commission, EDA, Satcen and GSA throughout this section of the paper. The European Commission, as the executive body of EU plays an indispensable role in space and security addressing both policy and legislative proposal making as well as program implementation. With regard to policy making, security constitutes a critical part of “Space Strategy for Europe”, as released in October 2016; The included strategic goals are to reinforce Europe's autonomy in accessing and using space in a secure and safe environment by [ 13 ]. • Maintaining Europe's autonomous access to space; • Ensuring access to radio frequency spectrum; • Ensuring the protection and resilience of critical European Space infrastructure; • Reinforcing synergies between civil and security space activities. The European Commission, in its Communication, stresses that Growing threats are also emerging in space: from space debris to cyber threats or the impact of space weather. These changes make greater synergies between civil and defence aspects increasingly relevant. Europe must draw on its assets and use space capacities to meet the security and safety needs of the Member States and the EU. [ 14 ] To that end, The Communications states that the European Commission will propose a GOVSATCOM initiative and strengthen the security requirements when developing EU space systems. With regards to specific programmes, the European Commissions’ space and security related activities are associated with the two European flagship programmes – Galileo and Copernicus – in addition to SSA/SST [ 15 ] and research programmes under H2020 [ 16 ]. In the frame of SST, the EU has adopted a Decision to establish a Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) Support Framework [ 17 ]. Finally, the European Commission together with ESA, Member States and EDA are working towards the next generation of governmental satellite communication capabilities at European level, known as GOVSATCOM. The European Commission is developing an Impact Assessment on GOVSATCOM, scrutinising and assessing different options for a future European GOVSATCOM capability, in line with the GOVSATCOM user needs and objectives [ 18 ]. The European Commission is addressing the strengthening of the security dimension of Galileo and Copernicus programmes, serving the interests of the CFSP/CSDP user communities. Security services are in place today for border surveillance (through FRONTEX) and maritime surveillance (through EMSA). The European Commission is now working with Satcen on operational services in support of the EEAS, in response to CFSP/CSDP user needs. From technology perspective, the European Commission is foreseeing the development of very high resolution imagery via satellites and RPAS [ 19 ]. The Council of the EU in its Competitiveness configuration (COMPET) deals with space affairs. On research, innovation and space, the Council aims to strengthen the scientific and technological base of European industry, thus boosting its international competitiveness and driving growth and jobs [ 20 ]. Within the Council of the EU (COMPET), the Working Party on Space deals with the development of space policy and related legislation in preparation of the COMPET Council meetings [ 21 ]. In addition to the COMPET Council, the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) is involved in space because of its link to CFSP/CSDP. The FAC Council defines and implements the EU's foreign and security policy, based on guidelines set by the European Council [ 22 ]. The EU Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and security Policy includes as space and security objectives to promote the autonomy and security of our space-based services and work on principles for responsible space behaviour . The Strategy calls for investing in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, including Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, satellite communications, and autonomous access to space and permanent earth observation. [ 23 ] The Strategy stresses the need to better link CFSP/CSDP with policies covering the internal market, industry and space [ 24 ]. The Council Conclusions (in Foreign Affairs configuration) of 14 November 2016 recognised the space priorities set forward in the EU Global Strategy [ 25 ]. Within the European External Action Service (EEAS), space is dealt with by in the Service of the Deputy Secretary General CSDP and crisis response. In particular, the SECPOL3 (Security Policy and Space Policy Unit) is coordinating - with the Special Envoy for Space – the EEAS actions on the field of space and security [ 26 ]. In 2015, the EU proposed to establish an international Code of Conduct to strengthen Security and sustainability in Outer Space [ 27 ]. To that end, the EU Council adopted in February 2015 a Decision in support of the international Code of Conduct [ 28 ]. The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an intergovernmental Agency under the Common Security and Defence Policy and a main stakeholder when considering synergies in the field of space and security. Twenty seven EU Member States – all Member States with the exception of Denmark – participate in EDA [ 29 ]. The European Defence Agency was established in 2004 under a Joint Action of the Council of Ministers in order to support the Member States and the Council in their effort to improve European defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the European Security and Defence Policy [ 30 ]. Space and defence share to a large extent the same technology and industrial base and therefore face similar problems. This also means that there are multiple opportunities for synergies in the field of space and security, not in the least because of the inherent dual-use nature of space assets and applications. In general terms, current EDA's space related activities include i.a.: - Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) - Satellite communications - Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) - Critical space technologies for European non-dependence, - Cyber security Satellite communications is discussed below as an example. Governmental Satellite Communications has been defined as one of the four capability development programmes by the European Council in December 2013. The European Council decided to address the associated critical capability shortfalls through concrete projects supported by EDA. On satellite communications, this initiated the preparation of the next generation of Governmental Satellite Communications through close cooperation between the Member States, the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) [ 31 ]. In December 2014, the EU Competiveness Council underlined the need to avoid fragmentation of demand and to foster civil-military synergies for preparation of the next generation satellite communications, through close cooperation among the abovementioned stakeholders [ 32 ]. In that regard, the EDA EU Satcom Market project has demonstrated already how Member States could benefit from pooling and sharing policy. By pooling the demand, the project efficiently and effectively provides commercially available satellite communications and CIS services to the members, contributing to the overall operational efficiency [ 33 ]. The EDA Steering Board endorsed in November 2014 in a Common Staff Target on the initial communication needs for European Military actors in the frame of national and CSDP actions. With the support of a feasibility study, the EDA then developed throughout the technical and mission requirements and assessed solutions. The resulting Common Staff Requirement and associated Business Case detailing the GOVSATCOM requirements were approved at the EDA Steering Board in March 2017 [ 34 ]. Following this approval, EDA, together with contributing Member States, is now developing a Pooling and Sharing demonstration project aimed at providing GOVSATCOM capabilities to EDA Member states and European CSDP actors based on existing, pooled, governmental satellite communication resources. This work strand is closely coordinated with the European GOVSATCOM initiative and is aligned with the respective work performed in the European Commission and the European Space Agency in order to develop a GOVSATCOM capability in Europe [ 35 ]. GOVSATCOM will be a capability that is placed in between the commercial satellite communication (COMSATCOM) market and the highly protected military satellite communication (MILSATCOM) capability, the latter being characterised by nuclear hardening, anti-jamming/dazzle features and secure telemetry, tracking and command links, supplemented by associated robustness and resilience in the ground segment. [ 36 ]. ESA and EDA have been increasingly cooperating on space related topics. To that end, an Administrative Arrangement on cooperation between ESA and EDA, was signed in June 2011 [ 37 ]. The Arrangement aims to provide a structured relationship and a mutually beneficial cooperation between ESA and EDA through coordination of and cooperation on dedicated activities. In particular, the cooperation may: • Explore the added value and contribution of space assets to the development of European capabilities in the area of crisis management and the Common Security and Defence Policy. • Identify those capability gaps or shortfalls that could be filled by space assets for the sustainable and effective implementation of the relevant EU policies; • Investigate whether identified capability requirements can be shared and thus supported by both EDA and ESA; • Coordinate research, technology and demonstration activities, including access to study results as appropriate and subject to their respective rules; • Investigate synergies between existing dedicated EDA and ESA programmes and their future evolution; • Explore synergies and coordinate activities in support of industrial competitiveness and European non-dependence issues. EDA and ESA have been cooperating on a variety of topics, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Satellite Communication in support of Unmanned Aerial Systems, and Space Situational Awareness, as well as critical space technologies [ 38 ]. Specific cooperation projects include for instance: Space and CBRNe threats [ 39 ], RPAS [ 40 ] and ISR Capability Package Assessment (ICPA) [ 41 ]. EDA also has a cooperation frame in place with Satcen, formalised by exchange of letters in July 2016. Since 2004, the EDA and SatCen have collaborated on projects as important as GISMO (Geospatial Information to Support Decision Making in Operations) and GISMO 2, SULTAN (Persistent Surveillance Long Term Analysis) and REACT. EDA and SatCen have also identified specific cooperation areas such as imagery exploitation, geospatial analysis and applications, future space-based earth observation systems, cyber defence, Big Data exploitation in the space and security domain, space situational awareness or maritime surveillance. [ 42 ]. The European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) supports EU decision-making and action in the context of Europe's CFSP/CSDP. SatCen supports EU decision-making and action in the context of Europe's Common Foreign and Security Policy. This means providing products and services based on exploiting space assets and collateral data, including satellite imagery and aerial imagery, and related services [ 43 ]. SatCen is providing EEAS, EU Member States, the European Commission and EU missions and operations with geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) products on a wide range of topics relevant for general crime and international security issues like border control, terrorism, piracy, illegal cropping or cross-border state disputes [ 44 ]. SatCen is cooperating with the European Commission on the development of Copernicus services for security applications. The Copernicus service for Security applications aims to support European Union policies by providing information in response to Europe's security challenges [ 45 ]. It improves crisis prevention, preparedness and response in three key areas: Support to EEAS, Border Surveillance and Maritime Surveillance [ 46 ]. In particular, Satcen can provide support to CSDP missions under the auspices of the EU External Action and to European Commission Agencies such as FRONTEX, EASA and EMSA. In the field of SSA, Satcen is cooperating with the SST consortium (consisting of ASI, CDTI, CNES, DLR and UKSA) on providing SST services (Collision Avoidance, In-Orbit Fragmentation and Uncontrolled Re-entry of space objects) [ 47 ]. The European GNSS Agency (GSA) focuses on the flagship programme EGNOS/Galileo. GSA's mission is to support European Union objectives and achieve the highest return on European GNSS investment, in terms of benefits to users and economic growth and competitiveness. [ 48 ]. Security is a core activity entrusted to the GSA by the European Commission pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council [ 49 ]. With regards to Galileo, security requirements are applied to all procurements and programme elements where appropriate, including those procured by ESA. The GNSS Security Board (GSB) is chaired by the European Commission, with representatives from all EU Member States. The GSB advises the European Commission on GNSS security related aspects, and validates the security requirements applicable to Galileo [ 50 ]. There Security Accreditation Board (SAB) within the GSA has two subordinate bodies acting on its instructions: the Galileo Security Accreditation Panel (GSAP) and the Crypto Distribution Authority (CDA). The SAB adopts its decisions on the basis of local decisions taken by the competent national security accreditation authorities, the verifications performed by the Security Accreditation Team and the reviews of the GSAP and CDA. The decisions include: approval of security accreditation strategy, authorisation to launch satellites or operate systems and ground stations, and authorisation to manufacture receivers containing Public Regulated Service Technology and their components [ 51 ]. Of particular interest of space and security is the Public Regulated Service (PRS). The Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) is an encrypted navigation service for governmental authorised users and sensitive applications that require high continuity. [ 52 ] PRS is more resistant to spoofing and jamming. PRS is primarily intended for use by EU Member State government authorised users. 3.3

Keywords

  • European space integration
  • Space and security
  • Space governance
  • Space strategy

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