Indra delivers one of the most advanced air surveillance radars in existence to the Spanish Army

As threats evolve, Indra develops increasingly sophisticated technologies to enable air forces to strengthen their capacity for deterrence and airspace protection. 

The company is today one of the largest radar manufacturers in Europe and exports its systems to all five continents. 

The key to its success lies in its constant commitment to innovation in order to meet the requirements and needs of the most advanced armies in the world and also to respond to the demand of the Spanish Ministry of Defence and the Spanish Air and Space Force, which seek to maintain their strategic autonomy in air defence. 

Indra has taken a new step forward in the development of these systems with the delivery just a week ago of the first deployable radar, Lanza-T, also known as LTR25, to the Mobile Air Control Group (GRUMOCA) of the Spanish Air and Space Force, based at the Tablada Barracks in Seville. The company is already preparing to deliver a second unit in the coming months. 

This 3D radar is notable for offering a range and operational performance comparable to that of large fixed early warning radars, but with a smaller size that allows for high mobility and the ability to adapt quickly to different operational deployment scenarios. It is capable of detecting drones, ballistic missiles and fifth-generation fighter jets designed to fly undetected. 

In compliance with NATO requirements for deployable air defence radars, it is designed to be transported in military trucks or in aircraft such as the A400M or the C-130 Hercules, in order to be deployed wherever it is required in a matter of hours and with very low personnel requirements for its deployment/withdrawal, operation and maintenance. 

When Indra launched the first version of this radar on the market, the most demanding air forces showed great interest in it. Both NATO and the UK Air Force acquired it after international tendering processes in which the giants of the sector participated. Both military organisations have been operating with Indra's radar for several years and, in the case of NATO, it has used them in important deployments. More specifically, to reinforce surveillance in the Netherlands and to protect European borders in Romania, a country that shares a border with Ukraine. 

The system now delivered to GRUMOCA is a version with additional specific requirements that are adapted to the demanding operational environments that exist in Spain, so it can be said that the Spanish Air and Space Force is at the forefront and has one of the best deployable early warning radars in the world. 

The LTR25 is a system that stands out from other radars due to its degree of digitisation, which increases its operational performance, its reliability and flexibility to adapt to different environments, as well as its ease of maintenance. So much so that experts are already talking about software-defined radars to refer to systems like the one developed by Indra, which are at the cutting edge and take digitisation to the limit, as close as possible to signal generation and reception. 

Replacing hardware elements with software also offers enormous agility when it comes to evolving the system. This last factor is critical in a context like the current one, in which constant technological advances mean that threats are also evolving at an accelerated pace. 

An example of this has been the emergence of missiles capable of travelling several times the speed of sound or of drones that can fly at high speed at very low altitudes and with a very low radar reflection surface, which makes it necessary to have multipurpose radars that detect different types of targets earlier and with greater precision, so that the necessary response time can be counted on. 

Indra has already demonstrated that its Lanza family of radars are among the most advanced in existence and that they are ready to face any challenge. The company is also part of the major technological programmes promoted by the European Commission through the European Defence Fund in which the radars of the future are being developed. It is also one of the companies that has developed and evolved the radar for the Eurofighter, one of the most advanced multi-role fighters in the world. And it has installed radars on ships of the Spanish Navy and other navies, as well as anti-drone systems for different armies. All this is thanks to the support of the Spanish Ministry of Defence, which has always been committed to the development of cutting-edge technology with a Spanish stamp.