WEEK 1
On the programme for this first week in Paris:
- Challenges for the European defence industry
- Lessons learned from the war in Ukraine
- European policy on the war economy
- European cooperation in the field of armaments
- Visit and presentations of : Thalès, Nexter (company of KNDS), Musée de l'Armée - Hôtel des Invalides
week 2
After an initial week organised in Paris at the École Militaire / IHEDN, Austria hosted the 2e 35th anniversary weeke SERA, from 15 to 19 April 2024.
Exciting lectures, round tables, visits and highly instructive presentations for the 85 European listeners at this high-level session, with the programme including:
- The Federal Army's capability challenges
- International institutions based in Vienna: arms control, space
- European Commission initiatives to support the development of military capabilities
- Austria's armed forces, space activities, industrial and technological fabric
After Vienna, it's on to Graz for the rest of the week, with meetings with the Austrian Air Force and Army and a number of defence industry companies.
The week ended with a reception organised by the Chamber of Commerce.
Next month, the 84 SERA35 listeners will be in Sweden, between Stockholm and Linköping.
WEEK 3
After a second week in Austria, Sweden welcomed the 84 participants in the 35th European Armaments Directors' Session from 20 to 24 May 2024.
The week, split between Stockholm and Linköping, was punctuated by a series of high-level conferences on a variety of themes, including :
- Swedish defence and armaments policy in a European and NATO environment;
- resilience and the concept of "total defence";
- collaborative innovation for defence, integrating academic research, government and industry under the "Triple Helix" model;
- innovation in an environment of international competition.
The delegation also met a number of companies in the Swedish defence industry and visited the Army training centre. It was an instructive week in a country that recently joined NATO after more than 200 years of neutrality and non-alignment.
Next and final leg in France in June, between Toulouse and Paris.
WEEK 4
After a third week split between Stockholm and Linköping, the final week of the 35th European Armaments Directors' Session took place in France, from 20 to 24 June 2024.
For two days, the city of Toulouse played host to the 84 auditors, who took part in visits and presentations by the Direction Générale de l'Armement - Techniques aéronautiques, Airbus Defence and Space, ArianeGroup and the Space Command.
Back in Paris, the auditors attended a presentation on the concept of resilience from the perspective of the European Commission. They then took part in the presentations of the work of the committees, to which they had devoted the last four months. This work covered various subjects such as European technological sovereignty, the war economy, the lessons of the war in Ukraine, European defence funding initiatives, NATO's influence on European defence, and the impact of the peace dividend.
