Indra Group will boost industry and create more than 3,000 direct jobs in Spain
Indra Group will mobilise the national industry and generate more than 3,000 direct jobs with high added value as a result of the loans approved by the Council of Ministers to finance major modernisation programmes for the Armed Forces which, once formalised in contracts, will guarantee strategic and industrial autonomy in defence.
The projects to be led by Indra Group, included in the Ministry of Defence's Special Modernisation Programme (PEM), will generate an estimated 3,000 direct engineering and production jobs, both within the company and in its value chain, as well as many more throughout the economy distributed across the country. The number of direct jobs is multiplied when indirect and induced employment is taken into account, according to the employment multipliers for this sector (e.g. TEDAE and PwC report)1.
"Indra is committed to providing the most advanced solutions required by our Armed Forces and guaranteeing the strategic sovereignty that Spain needs. At the same time, we will generate wealth throughout the country through high value-added jobs, an industry that is as self-sufficient as possible and advanced technology that is entirely national," said Ángel Escribano, Executive Chairman of Indra Group. ‘We have anticipated and prepared ourselves to be able to undertake these programmes, investing in personnel, capabilities, factories and facilities,’ he added. ‘And all this while driving a new wave of technological innovation and industrial development.’
The loans will enable Indra to tackle the new defence programmes through its national network of suppliers, which currently comprises a diverse ecosystem in which 65% are SMEs, start-ups, and technology or research centres. Indra is already subcontracting around 77% to the national industry.
Thanks to the PEMs, Indra will significantly expand its value chain, contributing to the development of innovative technologies and modern production capabilities that will strengthen national and European defence. Initial estimates suggest that Indra will expand its current ecosystem of more than 1,000 collaborators with another 200 new additions, including suppliers and industrial partners distributed throughout Spain.
This will further strengthen its chain of national partners, promoting the use of dual technologies and meeting the criteria for territorial cohesion, as the supplier footprint covers the four corridors established as priorities in the Ministry of Defence's Industrial Strategy. The reorganisation of Indra's national supply chain, with this significant increase in activity, will be part of a vertical integration plan, in which 500 suppliers will be managed directly as first-tier partners.
To deliver these state-of-the-art systems, Indra will also rely on the network of 73 universities and dozens of vocational training centres with which it collaborates nationwide, as well as on the specialised engineers who are studying for a Master's Degree in Radar at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Indra currently has agreements in place with 346 vocational training centres.
The industrial plans that are expected to accompany these programmes, once they are formalised, will have a direct impact on the industrial fabric of almost all the autonomous communities, with particular emphasis on the Southern Corridor (Andalusia), the Northern Corridor (Asturias, Basque Country, Aragon and Catalonia), the Central-Mediterranean Corridor (Madrid and Valencia) and the Vía de la Plata Corridor (Asturias, Castile and León, Extremadura and Andalusia), established by the Ministry of Defence in its industrial strategy.
Indra Group also stands out for being a Spanish company that maintains its decision-making centres in our country, which ensures that all the knowledge and technologies resulting from these programmes will remain in Spain, contributing, by extension, to that of our European allies.
Special Modernisation Programmes
The projects to be led by Indra Group, included in the Ministry of Defence's PEM, will be dedicated to all domains, Land, Sea, Space and Cyberspace, in response to the Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defence approved by the Spanish Government in response to the international context, the emergence of hybrid threats and the rethinking of the Atlantic Alliance.
Programmes for which pre-financing has been approved for Indra are:
‘Multidisciplinary Connectivity in Air Safety - Air-to-Air Artillery Operations Centre System (COAAAS)’; ‘Electromagnetic Wave Technologies Applied to Land Safety - Anti-Battery Radars (RADAR-FI)’; "Isolated Virtual Environment for Cybersecurity Training (Cyber-Range); ‘Wheeled Bridge-Laying Vehicle’ (VLP); ‘Superior Land Combat System’ (MGCS); ‘Tactical Radio Communications System (SCRT)’; ‘Integrated Advanced Cybersecurity System’ (SCOMCE); ‘Shipborne Launch System’ (SLE); “Integrated Efficient Land Mobility System – Chain Support Vehicle (VAC)” (1); “Multidisciplinary Connectivity (MC3)” (2); “Anti-UAS System” (3); “Sensorised Autonomous Mobility Robotic Aerial Technologies – Class I UAS” (4); ‘Advanced Manufacturing in Sustainable Land Mobility II - ATP Chains’ (3) ‘Advanced Manufacturing in Sustainable Land Mobility II - ATP Wheels’ (3) and ‘Integrated Efficient Amphibious Projection System’ (3).
1The PwC report indicates that for every direct job in Defence and Security, 3.75 direct and induced jobs are generated. PwC: Economic and Social Impact of the Defence and Security Industry (2024). TEDAE.
(1) Through TESS Defence, a company belonging to the Indra Group
(2) In a joint venture with Telefónica Ingeniería de Seguridad S.A.U. and Telefónica Soluciones de Informática y Comunicaciones de España S.A.U.
(3) In a joint venture with Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E)
(4) AERTEC Defence and Aerial Systems (DAS), a company belonging to the Indra Group
