Indra's CEO highlights its key role in European technological defence
The CEO of Indra Group, José Vicente de los Mozos, had a busy schedule at the 5th European Defence and Security Conference, held today in Brussels, where he emphasised Indra's willingness to assume its role as a major European company and contribute its technological, industrial and collaborative capabilities to meet the needs of the continent's armed forces.
Indra is involved in all European Union defence initiatives and has a long history of collaboration, but, in addition, ‘Indra is investing, growing and improving its industrial and delivery capabilities,’ he said.
The CEO of Indra Group participated in the round table discussion Rearming Europe: Aligning Policy with Industrial and Military Capabilities, alongside Panayiotis Hadjipavlis, Director of Defence of the Czech Republic; André Denk, Executive Director of the European Defence Agency; Herald Ruijters, Deputy Director-General of DG DEFIS (Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space); Jean-Brice Dumont, Head of Air Power at Airbus D&S; and Stefan A. Hess, Member of the Executive Committee at Hensoldt.
At this meeting, de los Mozos stated that ‘the European Defence Fund is a very useful tool for launching joint developments, but these products will not be consolidated unless the participating Member States make joint purchases’. ‘It is important to focus on large European projects focused on capabilities that Member States cannot develop and acquire on their own, rather than on hundreds of small developments,’ he added.
According to de los Mozos, joint projects are the best enabler for building trust: ‘We must find and encourage win-win solutions between countries and industries, in which everyone wins, in order to build trust.’ He therefore proposes jointly developing the next generation of defence systems within the European Defence Fund, but with ‘greater and more prolonged involvement of the Ministries of Defence from day one.’
The CEO of Indra Group highlighted the importance of investment in defence and security on the continent to close the ‘major capability gaps in all domains’ and the need for ‘a political decision to immediately acquire new solutions to replace legacy systems that have been in operation for more than 30 years but are no longer able to cope with the new threats seen in Ukraine.’
IndraMind, air defence and space surveillance
José Vicente de los Mozos detailed some Indra solutions that can help close the gaps in the continent's defence, such as IndraMind, with which the company aims to lead the era of artificial intelligence in Europe.
The aim is for this sovereign cognitive brain for decision-making in critical missions to be the European alternative to the big tech giants in order to ensure strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty.
Air defence is another of the most relevant areas for Indra's executive: ‘There is a lack of a multi-domain, multi-level air defence system capable of providing in-depth air defence against traditional threats, such as missiles and fighter jets, and against new threats such as drones.’
Space and its synergies with defence are also a priority for Indra, which provides state-of-the-art space surveillance radars to the Spanish and German Air Forces. ‘It is important to develop a joint space situational awareness capability, as we still lack a real European capability in Space C2 for military operations,’ stressed Indra's CEO.
Bilateral meetings
During the conference, Indra's CEO also held bilateral meetings with, among others, European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius, to whom he expressed the company's willingness to actively collaborate with its state-of-the-art technology in the defence of the continent, both in the south and in the east. As an example, he highlighted that ‘Indra has a solution for the rapid deployment of the so-called anti-drone wall, based on its AirDef (Air C2) system combined with the drone detection capabilities of the Lanza LTR-25 radars and the Aracne anti-drone (C-UAS) system, developed in collaboration with EM&E Group.’
This urgent and strategic priority of defence and aerial surveillance against drones also arose in the conversation with the Belgian Minister of Defence, Theo Francken, to whom de los Mozos explained that Indra is fully integrated into the development of European defence programmes and is strengthening its position in the Belgian market, where it participates in the main defence associations and forums and a few months ago reached a collaboration agreement with the Belgian company Intersoft Electronics on radar systems, electronic warfare and anti-drone technologies.
