Quick overview of the FEINDEF 23 show, which opened and closed with Indra in the spotlight
The third edition of the Spanish International Defence and Security Fair, FEINDEF 2023, has been a resounding success in terms of organisation, number of exhibitors, visitors and official delegations from third countries, far exceeding the results of 2021.
Its undisputed protagonist has been Indra, which has conscientiously prepared the sequence of activities to enhance its presence, not to overshadow its questioned president, Marc Murtra, with product news, and to culminate its participation in the international show with fireworks to the liking of the sector.
The show was inaugurated on 17 May with the leaks of a takeover of ITP Aero - which has not materialised, but is on the horizon - and the effective purchase of a 3 percent stake in the technology company by the industrial company Escribano, which surprised the whole of the national fabric.
To cap it all, FEINDEF 2023 just closed on 19 May with the appointment of its new CEO, Jose Vicente de los Mozos, an aeronautical engineer who comes to the defence ecosystem after spending his professional life in the automotive world in senior management positions at Renault and Nissan.
Spain's defence fair was packed with weapons systems, platforms and products and services for land, sea, air and space armed forces and police forces. The vast majority of these incorporate electronic components, which have attracted the interest of civilian and military professionals. One of the most striking novelties was the presentation of the SILAM project, an acronym for SIstema Lanzacohetes de Alta Movilidad (High Mobility Rocket System).
To recover a capability that disappeared more than ten years ago
SILAM is based on the PULS (Precise and Universal Launching System) of the Israeli company Elbit and envisages the transfer of technologies so that Spanish companies led by Escribano can manufacture the launcher and Expal can produce part of the different rockets and missiles it fires, whose range ranges from 40 to 300 kilometres.
Spain lacks the firepower provided by battlefield saturation weapons. The domestically developed and produced Teruel rocket launchers were decommissioned on 31 December 2011 after 24 years in service. The army has been calling for a similar system with improved performance ever since.
The president of Escribano, Angel Escribano, and the CEO of Expal, Jose Manuel Bosch, are working to finalise an industrial plan that will receive the approval of the Directorate General of Armaments and Material headed by Admiral Aniceto Rosique. If this is achieved, Expal, Escribano and Elbit will be able to claim the medal of "recovering a lost capability and nationalising a system that has demonstrated with facts its high firepower, range and precision".
The Spanish company General Dynamics European Land Systems-Santa Bárbara, headed by Juan Escriña, also took part in FEINDEF 2023 and unveiled its new range of vehicles: the LT-105 light battle tank and the armoured recovery vehicle. Both belong to the ASCOD (Austrian Spanish COoperation Development) family of which more than a thousand units exist or are in the process of being manufactured for the Armed Forces of Spain (Pizarro combat vehicle), Austria, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
The company, whose factories are located in Alcalá de Guadaira (Seville) and Trubia (Asturias), is also a member of the EuroTrophy initiative, the company responsible for marketing the Trophy system in Europe. It is an active protection product against rocket and anti-tank missile fire from the Israeli firm Rafael, which has been in service since 2011 in the armies of Germany, the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom.
Pap Tecnos, Rafael's Spanish subsidiary, and its partners are finalising an industrial plan for Trophy, one of the options for ensuring the survivability of the crews of the Leopard 2E battle tanks, the "Pizarro" combat vehicles and later, the new 8x8 "Dragon" wheeled combat vehicle (RCV) that is currently under development. Pap Tecnos and a group of national companies are already working on the fifth-generation Spike LR2 missile programme, which will increase the army's anti-tank defence capabilities.
Navantia awaiting the contract with Saudi Arabia
The TRC group has demonstrated the Cervus III, a system for detecting, classifying, inhibiting and shooting down unmanned threats already in use by the 31st Electronic Warfare Regiment. It is capable of identifying communications in the 400 MHz to 6 GHz bandwidth, with a maximum range of 4 kilometres. It has a high-resolution 3D radar, a 23-kilometre range Oteos infrared optronic system, a laser range finder for target designation and a Guardian 2.0 gun turret from Escribano armed with a machine gun or cannon.
On the naval side, the state shipyard Navantia has exhibited a prototype of a small unmanned submarine for the detection of submerged mines. In partnership with SAES - specialised in underwater acoustics and electronics - and Perseo Techworks - dedicated to engineering and simulation - the product is currently undergoing sea trials. The president of SAES, Joaquín López Pagán, has stressed that as they are submersibles without human crew, they are "safe and economical vehicles for defence missions and civilian applications".
But the focus of Navantia, presided over by Ricardo Domínguez, is on signing a contract with the Royal Navy of Saudi Arabia to build five multi-purpose warships. An extension of the five corvettes ordered to Navantia, it will close the agreement reached in Riyadh in November 2022 between the then Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, and the Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Khalid Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Unlike the corvettes for the Gulf kingdom that have been assembled in Cadiz, the new pact to be signed will contain a comprehensive package of technology transfers, including construction at a Saudi shipyard and a Hazem-based combat system developed by the SAMI Navantia joint venture.
Senior Defence officials and top army and navy commanders, the heads of the Logistic Support Commands, Lieutenant Generals Fernando Miguel García y García de las Hijas (Land), Jose Luis Pardo (Air and Space) and Admiral Ricardo Hernández López (Navy), have been regular visitors to FEINDEF 23.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived at the hall on 18 May to the sounds of the march "Ganando barlovento" performed live by the music of the Madrid Marine Infantry Group. Also in attendance were the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Carmen Artigas, the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, the Secretary General for Industry and SMEs, Francisco Antonio Blanco, and the new director general of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González.