Indra meets with the aerospace industry of the Basque Country and Navarre
Indra, a leading global defence, aerospace and advanced digital technologies company, in collaboration with the Aeronautical Technologies Centre (CTA) in Miñano (Alava), organised the "FCAS Industry Day" to learn about the most advanced capabilities and technologies of the aerospace industry of the Basque Country and Navarre and to explore new ways of collaboration within the development of Europe's largest collaborative defence programme, the FCAS.
As national industrial coordinator of the FCAS, Indra explained the current situation of the programme in its Phase 1B and detailed its challenges and opportunities, with the aim of involving local companies in the present and future of the project and thus extending its impact.
The meeting brought together large companies from the aerospace and defence sector, as well as other entities, SMEs and startups that have been able to share their most cutting-edge capabilities that could fit into the programme. Specifically, the event was attended by: Aciturri; Aernnova; Anteral; CEIT; Geminys; Hegan; IDEC; ITP; Multiverse Computing; Novatronic; Orbital; Peta Optik; SAPA Placencia; Sener; Soc-e; Tecnalia; Tekniker; and ULMA.
In the case of ITP Aero and Sener, they are already participating in the FCAS, leading at national level in the first case the engine pillar that will be integrated into the fighter, and in the case of Sener, through the SATNUS consortium together with GMV and Tecnobit, leading the national participation in the Remote Carriers and Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUT) pillar.
The FCAS programme, in which Spain, France and Germany are participating in equal parts, develops a system of systems consisting of a new-generation fighter, teaming up with a series of remote operators, all connected and working as a single entity thanks to the combat cloud, which interconnects the whole in real time and with other air, ground, naval and satellite platforms. It requires mastery of cutting-edge technologies for dual civil and military use, such as drones, advanced sensors, connectivity, cloud and edge computing, and Indra wants to incorporate the country's most advanced industry for its development, reinforcing its role as the backbone and driving force of the innovative ecosystem.
"The FCAS is a unique programme that we must take advantage of to transform our industry and turn it into a highly innovative ecosystem, as it offers us the opportunity to develop disruptive technologies that today seem like science fiction and that will be key in the mid-21st century. As coordinator of the programme, at Indra we are committed to seeking innovation wherever it is found and incorporating the most cutting-edge proposals in each territory", said Sebastián Laiseca, director of Indra's FCAS programme during the conference.
Daniel de Lorenzo, Business Director of Indra's FCAS programme, highlighted "the exceptional capacity and highly qualified talent" of the Basque and Navarre's industry to face the challenges of the project, without forgetting "the opportunity that FCAS may represent to reinforce the industrial fabric of the Basque Country and Navarre, their competitiveness and innovation capacity, boosting their contribution to Spain's technological sovereignty".
Indra organised the FCAS Industry Day with the collaboration of the CTA of Miñano, an aerospace technology centre specialised in validating technologies for the development of aerospace materials, structures and systems with a high component of R&D activity, which has a renovated wind tunnel unique in Spain that will allow researching, testing and developing new technologies for the sector.
As a driving force in the technology and defence industry and coordinator of European programmes, Indra reaffirms with initiatives such as this one its commitment to stimulate economic growth, innovation and competitiveness throughout Spain, taking advantage of the high impact of the FCAS project on the innovative ecosystem. The FCAS Challenge also received more than 80 proposals from companies and technology centres from 14 Autonomous Communities, of which eight, including the one submitted by the Basque company Multiverse Computing, received a special mention for proposing disruptive technologies in areas such as communications, the combat cloud, mission sensors or smart signals.