Grupo Oesía enters Lockheed Martin's Patriot missile system value chain
The Spanish technology group Oesía has just initialled an important alliance with the large US industrial corporation Lockheed Martin, which in 2023 positioned itself at the top of the global aerospace and defence sector, with a turnover of 67.6 billion dollars, about five times the budget of the Spanish Ministry of Defence for 2024.
The new step in the relationship of trust between the two companies has been sealed by the executive president of the Oesía Group, Luis Furnells, and the vice-president of International Business of Lockheed Martin, Ray Piselli, who has described his company as ‘a strategic partner for the defence and national security of Spain’.
One example is the materialised with Oesía, so that it can use its technologies on electronic equipment to extend the firing capabilities of the 18 launchers of the MIM-104 Patriot air defence system -three Batteries- that the Army has. They can now only fire PAC-2 missiles, but are intended to be capable of firing the more advanced PAC-3 SME missiles developed by Lockheed Martin.
Piselli is committed to ‘broadening’ the US giant's relations with Spanish industry, with a view to finalising with the Directorate General for Armaments and Material (DGAM), headed by Admiral Aniceto Rosique, an industrial participation plan involving a greater number of Spanish companies.
To fire two types of missiles
The aim is to modernise the national Patriot launcher fleet as soon as possible. Unless there are any surprises, it will be from this summer, once the European Parliament elections are over. The purchase will be made under a government-to-government agreement through the FMS -Foreing Military Sales- procedure, under which the Pentagon sells military equipment to third countries.
Following authorisation by the Council of Ministers, Defence, through the DGAM, is expected to conclude a contract to formalise the modernisation of the Army's Patriot, whose missiles are PAC-2 without anti-missile capability. To complement them, this includes the purchase of a new Battery with a PAC-3 SME missile package. These are highly accurate projectiles, which are already designed to shoot down ballistic missiles at ranges of over 100 kilometres. All of the above involves an investment of around 1.4 billion euros.
If the modernisation and purchase materialises, Spain will become one of the armed nations with the latest Patriot launcher export configuration capable of firing PAC-3 anti-missile SME. Fourteen countries already have them: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Korea, the Emirates, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Romania, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and Ukraine. And, of course, the US Army.
The pact reached between Furnells and Piselli does not end with the Patriot, the most powerful and longest-range fist of the Spanish Army's surface-to-air air defence system. The agreement also stipulates the constitution of a joint steering committee made up of executives from both companies, with the function of identifying and advancing concrete opportunities for collaboration. For Furnells, it represents a ‘quantitative and qualitative leap forward to be able to develop disruptive technologies in cooperation with the largest company in the sector’.
A long-standing relationship of trust
The collaboration that Oesía can bring to the company based in Bethesda, near Washington, DC, focuses on emerging and disruptive technologies. These include photonics and optronics applications for defence and security systems, as well as guidance, navigation and control equipment for aircraft when they are denied access to GPS positioning data.
It is no coincidence that Lockheed Martin has turned its attention to the Oesía group. The relationship between the two goes back some 20 years. The Spanish company supplies, for example, components for the US Navy's MH-60R multi-purpose naval helicopter and has received the Star Supplier distinction awarded by the American firm for meeting delivery deadlines and excellent workmanship.
With 18 corporate headquarters around the world, the Oesía group has projects in more than 40 countries and has five companies positioned in different fields of activity. At the forefront is Tecnobit, which develops and manufactures advanced electronics and vision systems, simulation and encrypted tactical communications.
There is also Inster, dedicated to terrestrial, naval, aerial and satellite communications; UAV Navigation, focused on guidance, navigation and control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles; Cipherbit, specialised in cybersecurity and encrypted communications; and Oesía Networks, which deals with digital transformation.