European politicos plan American tour to press for Ukraine support

— European politicians plan to engage directly with American voters over whether to continue to provide military aid to Ukraine.

— A combined €800 million for intelligence and cyber in the next annual French budget is just about enough according to the chief of the defense staff.

— Poland’s potential next defense minister is out to assure everyone, including us, that there’s not going to be big changes in national procurement policy.

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EURO ROADSHOW: Senior politicians from Europe are planning to go beyond DC to push the message that support for Ukraine should continue amid fierce debate in American political circles over whether to sign off on billions more in military aid. “We have a plan to travel … to separate states, meeting — for example — the companies that sell equipment that actually create jobs in the U.S.,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told our team.

Hearts and minds: The aim of the tour, though it’s not yet clear who is going where, is to persuade voters that continued spending for Kyiv is worth it, and that arms contracts can benefit local firms. “Most of the money that has been spent on Ukraine was actually spent in the U.S.,” Landsbergis said.

Losing out: New Congress Speaker Mike Johnson has said that the House will only vote on legislation that includes aid to Israel, putting billions in new Ukraine assistance on the back burner for now. 

The full story from Gabriel Gavin, Jacopo Barigazzi and Eric Bazail-Eimil is here.

Next date: Political life in Brussels grinds almost to halt this week due to the midweek holiday, but EU foreign affairs and defense ministers meet again on November 13 and 14.

FRANCE: The National Assembly’s defense committee will hear at 6 p.m. Jacques Tournier from the Court of Auditors and author of a report on France in NATO. 

The International Institute for Strategic Studies will look at French President Emmanuel Macron’s vision for European security during an expert event with former POLITICO correspondent Rym Momtaz in Washington DC on Wednesday. Register here for the hour-long chat which starts at 3 p.m. CET.

GERMANY: Also on Wednesday, Bard College Berlin hosts New Yorker staff writer Joshua Yaffa to discuss his reporting in Eastern Europe. The event “On Assignment: A Decade of Reporting Peace and War in Russia and Ukraine” starts at 7 p.m. CET.

**A message from ASD: Space is a critical enabler of a green, digital and resilient Europe. Space-related applications are essential elements of our daily lives, for example for navigation or mobile communication. At the same time, space plays an increasingly important role for our militaries – and is therefore more and more contested. Here again, industry plays a key role. **

NEW HULLS FOR THE FINNS: The Finnish Navy took to X to announce steel cutting has begun for Helsinki’s new Pohjanmaa-class corvette. The new ship class will form the core of Finland’s naval forces alongside its Hamina-class missile boats.

Vulnerable underwater infrastructure: In a subtle nod to recent events, the Finns explained the new corvettes are intended for “the changing conditions of the Baltic Sea” and can carry out a wide variety of missions, including underwater warfare, placing sea mines — and securing underwater energy and telecommunications infrastructure.

That last mission profile has new importance, following the damage sustained by underwater telecommunications lines and energy pipelines linking Finland and Estonia as well as Sweden and Estonia, with the perpetrators behind the damage still unknown.

CONTRACT FOR THE BRIT’S PHALANX: The U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Defence Equipment & Support awarded Babcock International, a British aerospace and defense firm, a three-year contract to support the Phalanx Close-In Weapon Support System (CIWS) for Royal Navy ships.

Repair and maintenance: The contract stipulates support will be given by Babcock for “up to 41” Phalanx systems, nine “overhauls and upgrades” inclusive, according to a Babcock press release.

MONEY FOR INTELLIGENCE AND CYBER BARELY ENOUGH: That’s what General Thierry Burkhard, the French chief of the defense staff, told lawmakers during a close-door hearing on the 2024 budget earlier this month. 

We need more: “The resources dedicated to intelligence are perfectly justified and, in my opinion, just about sufficient. Ideally, we should be able to deploy even more resources, especially in the cyber domain,” he told the National Assembly’s defense committee, according to a readout released on Monday.

The French defense budget, currently under discussion in Parliament, earmarks €500 million for intelligence and €300 million for cyber. While digital sovereignty is important, he added, France needs to be pragmatic and not “choose singular options” that are not interoperable with allies, Burkhard explained.

ECONOMIC PREDATION: French President Emmanuel Macron tasked Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, former head of business lobby Medef, with a mission on so-called economic security, according to Challenges and POLITICO’s Paris Influence. He’ll assess economic predation by foreign powers on France’s critical tech companies and present a confidential report in the coming months. 

The defense angle: While Roux de Bézieux is expected to look at China, he’s also bound to assess U.S. predation, after an American company unsuccessfully tried earlier this month to buy nuclear parts suppliers Segault and Velan SAS — companies critical to France’s nuclear-propelled submarines and the country’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

SUCCESSFUL DRONE TEST: The Navy’s aerial drone demonstrator has completed its last flight test campaign aboard the multi-purpose frigate Provence, according to the arms procurement agency. The 700-kilogramm VSR-700 drone, manufactured by Naval Group and Airbus Helicopter, successfully managed to automatically fly from and come back to the ship in a turbulent sea.

I WANT YOU: The French armed forces ministry launched a space in the Metaverse, on the Decentraland platform, to make itself known to the younger generation (18-35 years old). The experiment will last three months and is also designed to recruit participants to the virtual games by redirecting them to job offers, the ministry explained. One of the main challenges for France’s armed forces currently is to attract and retain talents, especially among the youth.

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NOT LIKE THE LAST TURNAROUND: The last time Poland changed governing parties a €3.14 billion Airbus helicopter contract was scrapped sparking a row with France back in 2016. With another change likely following a national election on October 15, we shouldn’t expect a sea change in procurement this time around, according to Tomasz Siemoniak, a former Polish defense minister now seen as a possible candidate to return to the post.

Wojciech Kość has more from Warsaw here.

Helicopters land: The first two of a total 32 AW149 support helicopters being built by Leonardo have been handed over to the Polish air force, according to local outlet Defence24.

NEW COMMISSIONING: Germany marked the commissioning of Homeland Security Regiment 2 in Münster, making it an official unit within the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr stated that approximately 500 reservists are under orders to serve in the new regiment.

For Germany, and for NATO: The new regiment’s objectives will be both national and alliance defense. “At its core, national and alliance defense means protecting our homeland, whether from an imminent threat from an external aggressor, in the event of a disaster, or supporting our allies within the framework of NATO,” Brigadier General Müller explained during the commissioning ceremony.

JOINT TRAINING: The German Bundeswehr and Lithuania’s armed forces kicked off a long, 20-day joint training exercise yesterday. The joint drills involve helicopters from both countries and during the exercises, “residents of Vilnius, Kaunas and Alytus cities and counties can hear and see helicopters flying at low altitude,” the Lithuanian armed forces explained in a press release.

DON’T FEAR THE BOMB: The United States Department of Defense has announced it is modernizing the B61 nuclear bomb, barring any objection from Congress. The upgraded gravity bomb, called B61-7, would replace some of the weaponry in the United States’ Enduring Stockpile arsenal — and could see possible posting overseas.

Interim solution: “The B61-13 is not a long-term solution, but it will provide our commanders, particularly in INDOPACOM and EUCOM, with more flexibility against these target sets,” Representative Mike Rogers and Senator Roger Wicker said in a joint statement.

Collective defense: The implication for Europe is that the upgraded weapon could enter NATO arsenals as part of the alliance’s nuclear weapon-sharing agreement. Under this arrangement, American nukes are stationed at allied bases, paired with allied aircraft — but under explicit American command — in Turkey, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Nuclear trio: Although three NATO members are nuclear-armed (the U.S., U.K., and France), the United States is the only of the trio to have made some of its nuclear weaponry available to NATO members for collective defense.

ISRAELI FIRM TO BUILD ARTILLERY PLANT: Elbit Systems has announced a $135 million, two-year contract to build an artillery munitions plant for “an international customer” it won’t name. The company runs manufacturing plants in Europe, Australia, Brazil and North America. “There is growing demand from governments around the world who are interested in enhancing their sovereign ammunition production capabilities,” Elbit’s General Manager Yehuda Vered said in a statement.

FIGHTER JETS TO UKRAINE: “The F-16s the Netherlands pledged in order to strengthen Ukrainian air defences will arrive at the training centre in Romania in two weeks’ time. That means that the training courses for the Ukrainian pilots who will fly them can start shortly,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tweeted on Monday.

SATELLITE: Satellite imagery giant Maxar Intelligence, which provides a lot of the space shots of conflict and natural disaster zones these days, has appointed long-standing IT industry executive Dan Smoot as its new CEO.

THANKS TO: Jan Cienski and Zoya Sheftalovich.

**A message from ASD: Space is critical for the strategic autonomy of the EU and its Member States as well as for the security and prosperity of our societies. The recent EU Space strategy for Security & Defence is an important first step towards making Europe a real space power, by strengthening its freedom of action in space while relying on its sovereign capability and assets. However, achieving this goal will also require establishing an industrial policy for space, based on a more strategic approach and ambitious public investment. This is urgently needed to support the competitiveness of the European space industry and to ensure it can further contribute to Europe’s sovereignty and security. Read the ASD-Eurospace analysis of the strategy here.**