Exit from NATO "Alliance Ground Surveillance" would trigger horrendous financial losses
"Germany and Italy are the European mainstays in NATO's ‘Alliance Ground Surveillance’ (AGS) programme, which initially consists of five ‘Global Hawk’ drones in Sicily. A further four NATO drones are to be stationed in Schleswig-Holstein/ Germany at a later point. Withdrawal from this project would trigger horrendous financial losses: the Federal Government would certainly be obliged to make all payments contractually agreed last year. Even the core element of AGS alone is set to cost 1.5 billion euros", criticised Andrej Hunko, Member of the Bundestag, in response to the answer received to a minor interpellation on the subject of NATO AGS.
The leading two countries in establishing the AGS Core and in terms of the financial contribution made are the USA (41.7 %) and Germany (33.26 %). Italy is responsible for 14.72 % of costs, whilst the remaining 12 % are being divided amongst the remaining ten partners. Several governments have exited the project, including Denmark and Canada. France and the UK are contributing drones, rather than financial support.
Andrej Hunko continued:
"Before exiting the project, a government has to consult all participating countries and ensure that its withdrawal will not make the programme instable. This procedure lasts 270 days.
For Germany, the US and Italy, exit is more and more unlikely, due to the extremely high costs which would be incurred. The contract signed last year by Mr de Maizière, guarantees payment of all costs incurred until such time as withdrawal from the contract becomes effective. In Germany's case, these costs could amount to 483 million euros.
Involvement in NATO AGS will also lead to further follow-up costs. These include the renting broadband satellite connections, since the surveillance flights generate immense amounts of data. Furthermore, the issue of type certification for the ‘Global Hawk’ for Italian airspace remains unresolved. As was the case with the German ‘Euro Hawk’ fiasco, the necessary studies and certifications could swallow up hundreds of millions of euros additionally.
It is absolutely unbelievable that the Defence Ministry plans to procure another four drones of its own in addition to those in Sicily. These would be stationed on behalf of NATO in Jagel in Schleswig-Holstein/ Germany. Deliberations as to what type of drone this would be are still underway. I suspect that the intention is to involve the arms concern EADS, which has been lobbying in support of its yet unbuilt European drone for years, now named ‘Future European MALE’ (FEMALE).
The public and Parliament are frequently left in the dark concerning the Federal Government's policy on drones. This issue was most recently tackled in the framework of the ‘Euro Hawk’ committee of inquiry. This is particularly serious, since parliamentary oversight of the Defence Ministry has been more or less on ice since April. All enquiries made by the Left Party parliamentary group regarding drones are being delayed for several weeks. The reply I have now received was only forthcoming following several complaints on my part.
The Left Party believes that unmanned drones should be strictly restricted to civil use. We are therefore calling for the plug to be pulled straight away on all of the Federal Government's military drone projects."
The reply to the minor interpellation on "German involvement in NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance programme" can be found here: http://www.andrej-hunko.de/start/download/doc_download/382-german-participation-in-nato-s-alliance-ground-surveillance-programme