Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

16 September 2003

NRF

• Budapest’s Kossuth Radio, Sept. 15, quoted Col Ruszc, head of the Hungarian army’s armored and vehicle technology service, announcing that the first new vehicles being purchased by the Hungarian army in the framework of a vehicle purchase program will be given to the Hungarian units which will serve in the NRF as of January. The broadcast noted that under the purchase program, all army vehicles are to be replaced in the next 15 years. It quoted Col. Ruszc saying the complete program is about the purchase of 10,000 all-terrain vehicles, trucks and buses from selected manufacturers, with the army’s participation in future development projects.
  
  
• In an interview with Il Sole-24 Ore, Sept. 15, the Italian Permanent Representative to NATO, Maurizio Moreno, explained NATO’s modernization process in the face of new challenges. “At the Prague summit last November, NATO drew up an ambitious agenda for bringing its abilities into line with the new challenges of the 21st century. This agenda also includes the establishment of the NRF,” Mr. Moreno said, adding: “The (NRF) will comprise some 21,000 troops and will be deployable in any theater in the world in a very short time. It is an agile and effective tool which is currently being configured. It is expected to be initially operational midway through 2004, while it will achieve full operational status in 2006.”

ESDP

• According to Helsinki’s Helsingin Sonomat, Sept. 15, Defense Minister Seppo Kaariainen is calling for a reexamination of Finnish laws on peacekeeping abroad so that Finnish troops can be sent on peacekeeping missions headed solely by the EU. Noting that according to current laws, Finns may only participate in operations authorized by the UN or the OSCE, the newspaper quoted Kaariainen saying, with respect to Operation Concordia in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: “The fact is that we have already, for practical purposes, slipped into peacekeeping operations taking place under an EU mandate. It is a matter of updating the laws to correspond to the reality.” The newspaper stressed, however, that changes to the peacekeeping laws remain a sensitive issue with some political parties arguing that they could be used to open the door to NATO.

GERMANY-DEFENSE

• Deutsche Welle reported that Defense Minister Struck Tuesday rejected reducing the number of Eurofighters jets ordered for the German Air Force. “Contracts should be kept,” Struck reportedly insisted. The broadcast remarked that politicians across the political spectrum have recently suggested Germany should only purchase 100 or 120 of the advanced fighters instead of the 180 that had been originally planned. It noted that the long-delayed Eurofighter, which costs 80 million euro per plane and has been plagued with technical problems, is the most expensive defense project in the history of the German armed forces.

IRAQ

• According to the BBC World Service, the German government announced Tuesday that Britain, France and Germany will seek to find “common ground” on Iraq when the leaders of the three nations meet at the weekend. The German government reportedly announced in a statement that Prime Minister Blair would travel to Berlin for the talks with Chancellor Schroeder and President Chirac on Saturday. “The meeting will serve to reach common ground on foreign policy after the differing views that arose before the Iraq war,” the statement added. The broadcast noted that the news of the summit came after French officials suggested a possible compromise with the United States over a fresh UN resolution on Iraq.

OTHER NEWS

• The BBC World Service reported that at least two people have been wounded in a gun battle between UN peacekeepers and local militiamen in Bunia, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the broadcast, it is the first time UN soldiers have opened fire since they were deployed under a Chapter 7 mandate at the beginning of the month—the most robust mode of operation available under the UN charter.