Indra opens the doors of its shareholding to Escribano a few hours before the opening of the Defence exhibition in Madrid
The Spanish company Escribano Mechanical & Engineering is attracting all the attention of executives and senior officials from the national defence sector with just a few hours to go before they meet at the third edition of the Spanish International Defence and Security Exhibition, FEINDEF 2023, which is being held in Madrid from 17 to 19 May and of which both companies are sponsors.
The reason why Escribano focuses the interest of institutions and companies in the armament, ammunition, electronics and logistics sectors of the Spanish industrial fabric is due to the fact that the company based in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) has just announced by surprise its entry into the shareholding of Indra, whose chairmanship is held by Marc Murtra.
The Madrid-based family company, chaired and managed by brothers Ángel and Javier Escribano, confirms that it has paid "more than 65 million euros" in the purchase of a 3% stake in Indra, which makes it the second industrial partner of the Spanish multinational, after SAPA Placencia, whose shareholding rises to 5%.
Escribano assures that his entry into Indra is "a clear commitment to the solidity of the Spanish defence industry", which he describes as "a leading and strategic sector for the socio-economic development of the country, to which he is strongly committed and to which he wants to contribute his experience". Sector executives perceive that Indra aspires to bring together capabilities and to become, step by step, the much-demanded and difficult "national champion".
The technology multinational is coordinating Spain's participation in the future European FCAS combat aircraft, is one of the companies most involved in national and international defence programmes and one of the world's leading companies in military aeronautical space surveillance and civil air traffic control.
A space for startups and entrepreneurs
Indra recently received the go-ahead to acquire the air traffic management division of Selex from the Leonardo group, Italy's aerospace and defence corporation, which is well established in the US civil and military sectors. It has turned it into Indra Air Trafic, with which it aspires to dive into and expand throughout the complex North American market.
Escribano's entry into Indra's capital reinforces the latter's position in the national defence sector and strengthens common ties and interests. Since June 2020, both companies have participated in the Tess-Defence consortium, a company set up together with SAPA Placencia and General Dynamics European Land Systems/Santa Bárbara to develop, manufacture, market and support the life cycle of the 8×8 Dragon wheeled combat vehicle to be provided to the Army.
Escribano was created in 1989 as a machining workshop. The two enterprising sons of the founder have been able to strengthen the small company, establish a technology centre and build up a team of some 700 people, mostly engineers and qualified technicians. Escribano specialises in the design and manufacture of electro-optical systems, guided ammunition kits and guided weapons systems and markets its products in some twenty countries.
The Indra-Escribano shareholding relationship will be on the lips of those attending FEINDEF 2023, the only professional trade fair in Spain that brings together the defence and security industries and which has the institutional support of the Ministry of Defence. In search of its place in the large market of international armament shows, it represents the main showcase for Spanish companies and institutions to display their products, equipment and services, as well as the projects they develop in cooperation with companies from third countries.
FEINDEF 2023 will be inaugurated on 17 May at the Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA) by the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, who was not present at the opening ceremony of the previous edition. She will be accompanied by the Secretary of State for Defence, Amparo Valcarce, and by the former Minister of Defence, Julián García Vargas, who is the President of the FEINDEF Foundation, the entity that organises and manages the biennial event.
Official delegations from third countries who have confirmed their attendance
The organisers point out that the 40,000 square metres of exhibition space will host more than 450 exhibitors from 20 nations, including 80 from the aerospace sector, 120 from electronics, communications and ICT, as many from logistics and auxiliary services, 26 from armaments and ammunition, 56 from the land sector and 35 from the naval sector. Around 25,000 professional visitors from industry and the armed forces are expected from all over the world.
A space called Innova for Def & Sec will serve as a meeting point for entrepreneurs and startups that provide products, services and initiatives of interest to the defence and security market in its national and international aspects.
FEINDEF officials emphasise that more than a hundred official delegations have confirmed their attendance. From the Arab states, dignitaries and generals from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Emirates, Jordan and Oman will be present. Jordan and Oman. From the Americas, senior representatives of the armed forces of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay will attend.
Logisticians and officers from the European armies of Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Estonia, France and the United Kingdom are also expected to attend.
From the African continent, high-level representatives are expected from Gabon, Ghana and Morocco, as well as from Asian nations such as Israel, the Philippines and Thailand, and from international organisations such as the European Defence Agency (EDA), the European Commission, NATO and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).
The three days of FEINDEF 2023 are packed with round tables and conferences. Several auditoriums have been set up for more than a hundred industry executives, senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Spanish Armed Forces, NATO, the European Union and its agencies, the National Police Corps, the Civil Guard and the National Cryptographic Centre to discuss strategic autonomy, the main disruptive technologies and renewable fuels of interest to land, sea and air military forces.