"The FCAS Challenge" highlights innovative technology from Spanish startups, SMEs and technology centres that could be added to the future European air combat system

Artificial Intelligence, distributed services for the combat cloud, radio frequency, low observability technologies or interconnected sensors are some of the latest advanced technologies that are being incorporated within the framework of the FCAS, the largest collaborative defence programme in Europe that is developing the continent's future air combat system.    

Indra, one of the leading global technology and consultancy companies, as industrial coordinator of the FCAS programme in Spain, has taken a further step in the development of phase 1B of the project and has launched "The FCAS Challenge", an initiative that provides an opportunity to attract talent and innovation from Spanish startups, SMEs and technology centres, which are not always linked to the defence sector, for the development and maturation of cutting-edge technologies within the FCAS framework.  

The call received more than 80 proposals from 70 organisations from 14 of Spain's 17 autonomous communities. Eight of them received an honourable mention from the jury at an event held in Madrid, which was attended by the companies, senior representatives of Indra's FCAS programme and the Spanish Ministry of Defence, as well as members of the Steering Committee International and the Combined Project Team (CPT) International. 

The FCAS programme, in which Spain, France and Germany are equal partners, is developing a system of systems consisting of a new-generation fighter, teamed with a series of remote operators, all connected and working as a single entity thanks to the combat cloud, which interconnects the whole in real time and with other air, ground, naval and satellite platforms. 

The result will be a paradigm shift in the sector and will have a major technological and industrial impact. It will strengthen European competitiveness and technological sovereignty in key areas such as aeronautics, unmanned vehicles, digital technologies, big data and artificial intelligence, providing Europe with centres specialising in dual-use technologies. In Spain alone, it will generate thousands of highly qualified direct and indirect jobs. 

"The FCAS Challenge" responds to the FCAS programme's objective of being a backbone project with a high impact on the industrial ecosystem, in this case in Spain.

The following are the startups, SMEs and technology centres that have received the distinction, according to category and geographical area: 

• Mission sensors: Beamagine (Catalonia) and EM3works (Galicia). 
• Signal intelligence: Multiverse Computing (Basque Country) and Pixels-Hub (Asturias). 
• Smart Communications: Red Skios LTD (Community of Madrid). 
• Combat Cloud: Gradiant (Galicia), in collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (Catalonia); Byevolution Creative Factory (Andalusia); and The REUSE Company (Knowledge Centric Solutions) (Community of Madrid). 

Final event 

During the closing event, Borja Ochoa, Indra's General Director of Defence and Security, highlighted that the participation in "The FCAS Challenge" is "very beneficial for the development of the FCAS, since it bets on new actors that contribute to the consolidation of technological capacities and the maturity of new ones" and emphasised that "this project marks a before and after within the most ambitious defence programme to date at Spanish and European level".

For his part, Major General José Antonio Gutiérrez Sevilla, deputy director general of programmes of the DGAM (Directorate General of Armaments and Material) of the Ministry of Defence, pointed out that "the FCAS programme is a driving force for the defence industry and, with this same objective, "The FCAS Challenge" encourages not only innovation but also collaboration between large and small companies. The success of initiatives like this helps to drive the participation of new players in this transformative project.  

With its FCAS Challenge initiative, Indra reaffirms its position as a driving force in the Spanish defence industry and ensures that the FCAS is an unprecedented ultra-innovative technological challenge that goes far beyond an aeronautical defence project.