Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

7 November 2003

NRF

• Budapest’s Nepszava, Nov. 5, reported that Hungary’s parliamentary parties were due to hold coordination talks later Friday on the country’s participation in the NRF. The daily quoted Imre Ivancsik, Political State Secretary in the Defense Ministry, saying that there was agreement in principle on a proposal for the army to appoint a 150-strong rapid reaction sub-unit to the force. The daily added that the Cabinet must report to the parliamentary foreign affairs committee on its decision and on the tasks to be performed by the Hungarian unit.

AWACS

• The New York Times, reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, explains a situation near the Geilenkirchen air base, where residents on the Dutch side of the border refuse to trim trees which create obstacles for NATO’s AWACS. The article says: “Along a little country road right on the Dutch-German border, a showdown is in the making, one in which citizens are determined to take on NATO. On the left of the road, the Dutch side, stands a forest of mainly oaks and birches. On the right, where Germany begins, a great space unfolds, bare as a billiard table and ringed with swiveling surveillance gear. That is Geilenkirchen airport, the home base of NATO’s AWACS fleet.” Claiming that the base has retooled itself as an AWACS training site, which means jets doing practice runs, flying loops and roaring over a dozen villages and towns, the article adds: “Residents say the planes have 1970’s engines of a type so ear-splitting they were banned from European civilian aircraft two decades ago…. Locals have set up a protest group, backed by doctors, teachers and businessmen. Farmers have brought along fuel-stained vegetables…. But the group feels ignored, both by the base and by the Dutch government. So now the angry citizens believe they have found a weapon more effective than letters and petitions: By NATO’s calculations, the growing oaks and birches of the Schinveld forest will soon reach into the flight path. NATO wants them cut. Schinveld has refused.” The article observes: “The tree impasse may not make it on any European security agenda, but the intense talk (in Schinveld)—about the rising anti-base sentiments and the loss of quality of life because of some distant threat—reflect a broader unresolved debate in Europe. While some politicians are lobbying to put more military teeth into Europe’s foreign policy, many pacifist citizens may not want to pay the taxes or cope with the inconveniences of an expanded military. The strong sentiment along this stretch of the Dutch border is easily summed up: ‘Either the planes should train somewhere else, or they should be fitted with more modern, quieter engines.’ The article quotes the base commander, Brig. Gen. Tuttelmann, saying, however: “We are just aiming at one thing, which is that these tree are removed to ensure our safety. To move the whole base would cost a huge amount of money.” People on the German side cut their trees because they saw the reason for it, even if they did not like it, Gen. Tuttelmann reportedly stressed, noting: “We can provide cover for all of Europe.” According to the newspaper, he added that replacing the engines would cost about $800 million and insisted that “the politicians have to decide whether they want to spend this money.” He reportedly added, however: “Meanwhile, pilots must practice…. The whole issue of the trees is just an obstacle to prevent us from flying.” The article adds that with the Dutch ministers of defense and environment due to give their opinions soon, the different parties have mustered arguments and statistics. Opponents argue that some 300,000 people within 16 kilometers, or 10 miles, suffer from the base, while less than 1,000 civilians benefit from jobs there. A group of physicians has said the impact of the noise and exhausts is seriously underestimated, the newspaper remarks. It adds that also the base spokesman has a stack of papers: colored graphics of prescribed landing slopes and obstacle-free zones and profiles of the trees identified as hazards if they grow another meter, and quotes him saying: “We have already exported 60 percent of our practice flights to respond to local concerns.”

ESDP

• In a contribution to Le Figaro, Nov. 6, Axel Poniatowski, a French parliamentarian and a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee viewed Europe’s defense ambitions, claiming that in the U.S. “there is zero enthusiasm” for the development of an autonomous European command for the planning and conduct of operations. “Yet, he added, “even if limited to five or six member states during an initial period, this command will see the light of day next summer, in Mons, Belgium.”