PARIS \u2014 The American \u201clow-cost\u201d approach to space investment, which relies on commercial space firms driving tech investment, has gained favor among some defense procurement officials in Europe. That, in turn, sparked industry concern, particularly in France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Space and defense are growth areas with \u201cheavy interactivity,\u201d said Philippe Bensussan, chairman and chief executive of Sofradir, a French specialist in military and civil infrared (IR) technology. He noted his company\u2018s own investment: Sofradir\u2019s U.S. subsidiary launched a sales drive into the space market and hired an executive with contacts in the space sector, Bensussan told Defense News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But innovation is essential, requiring sustained funding at a time when governments look to the private commercial sector to finance the equipment makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dynamism in the satellite market is in part due to private launch companies such as Elon Musk\u2019s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. market is growing, but relies on a model that Bensussan likens to commercial space firms buying equipment off the shelf. They buy equipment from suppliers, which also supply the government, so the latter are already qualified in government programs. Revenue from the government also helps to finance the equipment suppliers, he said. Contracts from NASA, a government space agency, help fund commercial launch companies, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bensussan fears the model may gain traction in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de l\u2019Armement, French CNES national space agency, and the European Space Agency \u201cmust understand they cannot just leverage on the commercial market and not fund technology any more, assuming it would be funded from the commercial market,\u201d he said. \u201cThis would be 100 percent wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEquipment makers are concerned space primes may expect from them low-price commercial space offers while being unable to take risks and give up long, tedious and expensive qualifications,\u201d Bensussan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is important European agencies understand that. No one is going to fund technology that will take 10 years to develop, with return on investment 15 years away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his words, the concern is that European governments will \u201cback off and expect the private sector to back us,\u201d he said. A budgetary crunch in Europe lies behind that reluctance to fund research and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall in the U.S., Sofradir has \u201cwon a few nice programs\u201d in the defense sector but sales are slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Europe, Sofradir has asked the DGA to write into the next multi-year military budget law key projects which would help the company develop IR technology. It remains to be seen if the procurement office will include those systems in the six-year budget law starting in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bensussan declined to specify the wished-for programs, but it was clear those would rely heavily on technology for large-format space observation. A clue came from the importance he attached to the need for government funding for deep space telescopes in the European Southern Observatory, or ESO, based in Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those extra large telescopes call for a large number of IR detectors, but there is also difficulty to raise funds for astronomy, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another project of interest is a European Union \u20ac4 billion (US $4.7 billion) fund for microelectronics under the EU\u2019s rules for Important Project of Common European Interest, he said. The rules govern EU funding for research and development, and capital expenditure. Germany is keen to commit funding for the EU microelectronics program, but France suffers from budgetary problems and is exploring creative ways of raising funding, while observing \u2014 in principle at least \u2014 a drive to slash the national deficit, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a French next-generation military spy satellite to replace the Helios program, Sofradir is working on feasibility studies, but a program is needed to start R&D and that has yet to be launched, he said. It is unclear whether it will be a large or small satellite and whether there will be IR sensors on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France spends an annual \u20ac700 million on military R&D, of which \u20ac200 million is tied to the nuclear deterrent, leaving only \u20ac500 for conventional weapons systems, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sofradir expects 2017 net profit to be stable in the double digits on forecast sales of \u20ac230 million-\u20ac240 million, up from 2016 sales of \u20ac220 million. The company is investing in new equipment to boost production. The U.S. accounts for some \u20ac10 million of sales, with the company looking to increase that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defense accounts for a little less than 70 percent of sales, with the rest from the civil sector, supplied by its Ulis subsidiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sofradir designs and builds chips for short-, medium- and long-wave IR sensors, which are fitted to equipment such as night vision goggles, IR cameras and targeting systems. The company is a joint venture of Safran and Thales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The American \u201clow-cost\u201d approach to space investment, which relies on commercial space firms driving tech investment, could gain favor among some defense procurement officials in Europe. That, in turn, sparked industry concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":114687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[46,11,12,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[464],"class_list":["post-55259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-global","category-industry","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QBQYJLNH5RDUVOU3XRNCWONWMY","arc_canonical_url":"\/space\/2017\/10\/27\/might-europe-follow-the-us-model-of-commercializing-space-manufacturers-hope-not\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n