Interview with Bruce R. Eggers, Andover, MA The Future of European Integrated Air and Missile Defence The Patriot partnership community

The Future of European Integrated Air and Missile Defence

The Patriot partnership of 17 countries is a strong and attractive community

50 Interview with Bruce R. Eggers, Raytheon’s Business Development Director for German Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Andover, Massachusetts

The European: Mr Eggers, Germany recently made the decision to upgrade its Patriot air and missile defence system to the most modern configuration currently available – Configuration 3+. Why is that so significant for NATO? Bruce R. Eggers: Germany, the Netherlands, as well as five other European nations and the US, entrust Europe’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence to Patriot. By upgrading to Configuration 3+, Germany has the latest updates to address evolving threats, to remain technological compatible and interoperable with its allies for many years to come.

The European: Can Patriot handle the next generation of threats? Bruce R. Eggers: Yes. We are offering Germany our Next Generation Patriot solution package, which addresses advanced threats with a cutting-edge, 360-degree radar that has undergone more than 3,000 hours of testing. Commanders also have operational flexibility due to Patriot’s missile mix of GEM-T interceptors and the PAC-3 MSE interceptor. Of course, those interceptors are already integrated into Patriot Configuration 3+.

The European: And what about the IRIS-T SL option as an additional capability? Bruce R. Eggers: We have the additional capability to integrate IRIS-T SL, subject to the permission of both the German and US governments. Together with Rheinmetall’s solution, all of this fits into a seamless architecture that can cover Germany’s ground-based air defence needs.

The European: You see me hesitating, but let me provoke: Is my feeling right that you are convinced that Next Generation Patriot is a German solution because you have a partnership with Rheinmetall? Bruce R. Eggers: Absolutely. Raytheon has a global strategic partnership with Rheinmetall, and they are integral to our solution. We talked about the opportunity to integrate IRIS-T SL already. Beyond that, and with the permission of the US and German governments, we could potentially incorporate a German medium-range radar and German made command, control and communications. In Germany, it is a single solution that combines the current working system Patriot by filling the gap against short range attacks and thus protecting the own military forces.

The European: And your Patriot-partner MBDA? Bruce R. Eggers: I’d also point out that MBDA currently does work on German Patriots, and the Patriots of other partners.

The European: What is the workshare e.g. for your German partner MBDA? Bruce R. Eggers: We have a joint venture with COMLOG. They are responsible for two main servicing and maintenance tasks for Patriot. First, they do all the missile upgrade work not only

photo: © Raytheon

for German missiles but also for other partner countries as well. There are 80+ employees working solely on Patriot missile upgrades in Schrobenhausen alone. In Freinhausen all Patriot user tests are done. We would not anticipate that changing. Furthermore, MBDA does launcher integration for our worldwide Patriot customers, not just for Germany.

The European: What then do we do with the claim of some experts in Europe, but also of Raytheon’s competitors, that MEADS represents the future, while Patriot is the past? Bruce R. Eggers: Patriot is the air and missile defence system of choice for 17 countries. Four new countries have joined the partnership since November of 2017 – the Kingdom of Bahrain is our newest addition, joining in August. Those countries looked at the threat, evaluated the data, and made their choice for today and for the future. How many countries have selected MEADS?

The European: Sir, let me turn back to the past and ask why in 2011, the US Army – up to this date fully behind the MEADS-programme, decided to terminate participation in the programme? Bruce R. Eggers: MEADS was billions over-budget and years behind schedule. The reality is that MEADS is built on a foundation of not of the state of art technology that never made it through the formal systems qualification process, whereas Patriot’s technology is constantly refreshed, tested and upgraded thanks to continued investment by the entire Patriot community. The 17 countries of the Patriot community which collectively own 240 Patriot fire units pay for modernization and upgrades which are based on testing and lessons learned in ongoing operations.

The European: But the threat is constantly evolving and improving. Isn’t a new system required to address that? Bruce R. Eggers: Patriot certainly has the same name that it had when it was first fielded – and even looks the same on the outside – but the resemblance ends there. Threats have always evolved and improved. An air defence system must be constantly upgraded and enhanced in order to outpace threats, regardless of who makes it. Maintaining this constant pace of improvement would be incredibly expensive if one nation had to go for it alone.

The European: Maintaining this constant pace of improvement is highly expensive. Bruce R. Eggers: In addition to being not state of the art at this moment, MEADS is untested against the spectrum of air and missile threats it claims to be able to address. MEADS development has a reported  4 billion price-tag, so let’s assume that at some point in the future it does get built. There are no other customers in the queue. It appears Germany would own a stand-alone system and the threat is not going to stand still. Germany will also be responsible for all upgrades and updates on their own. Is Germany prepared, as the only member of the MEADS Club, to pay all of these bills?

The European: This is going to be exciting, and I thank you for your openness.

Bruce R. Eggers (right) receiving Hartmut Bühl at Raytheon’s premises