Indra's new Centre of Excellence in Operational Analysis hosts the second conference of this discipline
Indra's Centre of Excellence in Operational Analysis hosted part of the second conference dedicated to this discipline, which facilitates the independent and in-depth study of the most complex military problems and which is, therefore, decisive for the security of our country and the future of the Armed Forces.
From its new centre, Indra wants to continue promoting this discipline which, based on a strong computing capacity, allows to reproduce hundreds of times, in a synthetic way and taking into account a huge number of variables, the most diverse military situations and scenarios and to emulate any type of systems, with the aim of gathering data to facilitate decision-making based on scientific criteria.
To this end, Indra has provided the Centre of Excellence with the necessary human and material resources; developing the most appropriate methodology and tools; and turning it into a meeting point for the leading experts in the field.
This is demonstrated by the ‘Conference on Concept Development, Experimentation and Operational Analysis in Defence’, in which, for three days, senior commanders of the Armed Forces, representatives of different universities and academic institutions in our country and industry explained the latest advances in the field and offered their views on the steps necessary for Spain to have its own capabilities in this area.
The conference was closed by the head of the Spanish Army's Logistic Support Command (JEMALE), Lieutenant General Fernando Miguel García y García de las Hijas, and Indra's General Director of Defence and Security, Borja Ochoa, who pointed out that ‘Indra believes that we have a responsibility towards our country and we must act as the driving force behind key initiatives such as this one. To this end, we have set up this Centre of Excellence and we have drawn up a plan for dissemination and collaboration with the different actors, which we seek to expand progressively, as this critical capacity requires the collaboration of all to provide us with the national sovereignty and autonomy we are looking for’.
Along these lines, Pedro Vidán, Indra's Defence Aftermarket director, pointed out during the opening of the conference that ‘Indra's objective is to put this Centre of Excellence and the developments and science that the company is carrying out at the service of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence, the university and the industry, which Indra wants to lead in this field as a reference company in defence, technology and R&D&I’.
The armies around us are already using operational analysis to define the capabilities they need and the most efficient systems to cover them. The volume of resources and work that is activated every time a military decision is made or a large defence technology programme is launched requires a very rigorous definition of the objectives to be pursued and, for this, operational analysis is of vital importance.
On-site demonstrations
The conference closed with a series of demonstrations at the Operational Analysis Centre of Excellence. Attendees were able to learn about the possibilities offered by these facilities and the capabilities of its new operational analysis laboratory, as well as witness the execution of several exercises with demonstrations of the combat cloud and the tactical communications network.
Borja Ochoa, Indra's General Director of Defence and Security, highlighted that the possibilities of the new centre are enormous and that ‘it will not only allow the Armed Forces to better plan the development of defence capabilities, but it will also help the Spanish industry to develop better systems, faster and at lower costs. It will facilitate, for example, the development of systems capable of interoperating much more fluidly in the theatre of operations, to ensure that our Armed Forces can act in a perfectly coordinated manner in multiple domains of land, sea, air and cyberspace simultaneously, in what we know as multi-domain operations.