Lockheed Martin awards Indra with a contract to equip four Saudi ships with state-of-the-art electronic defence systems
Indra has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to equip the four Multi-Mission Surface Combat Ships (MMSC) to be delivered to the Royal Saudi Arabian Naval Force with an advanced state-of-the-art electronic defence system capable of detecting the presence of any platform and classifying it according to its threat level.
The 118-metre vessels, with a range of 5,000 nautical miles, are ready to operate in littoral and ocean environments and meet the requirements of the most modern navies. They will integrate Indra's Rigel Electronic Support Measures system (Rigel EW suite), which will detect and analyse the radar signals of other vessels in the area of operations, identifying and classifying them to determine the degree of threat they represent. This critical information enhances the ship's survivability in hostile environments, ensuring maximum situational awareness and providing invaluable intelligence for the entire Saudi fleet.
Close cooperation between Lockheed Martin and Indra
For Indra's Director of Naval and Land Systems, Jaime Temes, "our capabilities in Electronic Defence, with state-of-the-art systems, allow us to be part of such ambitious and demanding defence programmes as this one. We are very proud to work together with Lockheed Martin and SAMI on these four ships for the Royal Saudi Naval Force, one of the most important navies in the world".
To carry out this project, Indra will have the support of SAMI, a technology company and manufacturer specialised in aerospace defence, digital, energy and security sectors in the Middle East, with whom Indra has a collaboration agreement in the field of naval electronic defence to provide this critical technology to the Royal Saudi Arabian Naval Force. This programme represents the consolidation of this collaboration that began with the Avante 2200 corvette programme and represents a significant increase in local EW capabilities.
Indra and Lockheed Martin also have a long-standing relationship since the 1990s, when Indra began developing components of the Aegis system for Spain, the US and other countries. Last January 19th, this relationship was reinforced after Lockheed Martin's international vice-president, Ray Piselli, and Indra's CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, signed an agreement to analyse business opportunities in any field of defence and geography.
On the other hand, Indra has supplied electronic defence systems to the Spanish Navy and the navies of Germany, Norway, Italy, India, South Korea and Mexico, among others. It has worked with some of the world's leading shipyards, such as Navantia, Italy's Fincantieri, Germany's Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS), Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), and the Netherlands' Damen.