France and NATO C3 Agency sign landmark agreement

France and the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) signed on 30 April a landmark agreement that will see closer cooperation in the development of ‘plug and play' intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and command and control capabilities.

In a first step, the agreement will see the testing of the interoperability of France's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities with those used in NATO's Afghanistan mission. The ability to share high quality footage for example from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles among the troop contributing Nations is paramount, including in the fight against Improvised Explosive Devices.

Paying only once
The Memorandum of Agreement on C4ISR cooperation was signed between the General Manager of the NC3A, Georges D'hollander of Belgium, and Mr. Patrick Auroy of the French Ministry of Defense and deputy director of DGA (Direction Générale pour
l'Armement). In the attendance, was France's National Armament Director, Mr. Laurent Collet-Billon.

"We are in essence looking at a shift of paradigm. Traditionally, we have worked on developing capabilities nationally and then worked -and paid - again at the Alliance level to make them interoperable. Now we are seeking to engage Nations in a direct, comprehensive approach that will deliver capabilities that are ‘born interoperable'. After all - as National budget come under pressure - Nations only want to pay once for capabilities that will work with their NATO partners and protect the safety of their troops", said Mr. D'hollander.

"France is looking forward to take a close look at what capabilities are available in NATO through the NC3A, the ultimate aim is ensuring our capability development is cost-effective and fully interoperable with the Alliance," said Mr. Collet-Billon, "This includes reusing what is already available in NATO/NC3A and engaging testing via the NATO's federated battle laboratories."

France is already participating in several interoperability initiatives, including for example the intelligence, logistics, security and communications domains, related to current and future operations. The agreement, as a framework for future bilateral activities, will enable a better coordination between the two organizations and also enable France to
take into account NC3A initiatives in order to deliver efficiently and coherently national capabilities in the C4ISR domain.

Other Nations that have such agreements with NC3A include Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Norway and Sweden, with a number of other Nations finalizing such memoranda.

Source: NC3A