The Chief of Defence Staff kicks off the promising 2025-2026 space course
- Lack of own observation satellites in the visible and infrared spectra
- For the benefit of military operations and in support of society
- The cream of the national space sector
Almost all of the top leaders of the national space ecosystem gathered in Santander, where the 17th edition of the seminar was held behind closed doors from 3 to 5 September. Year after year, the seminar maintains the title ‘Satellites as a key element for defence and government applications’.
This edition of the seminar, known in the sector as the Santander Seminar, marked the start of what can be considered the unofficial opening of the 2025-2026 national space course, with the opening address given by the Chief of Defence Staff (JEMAD), Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, and the closing lecture by the Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF), Amparo Valcarce.
Senior officials from the Department of Defence, the Armed Forces, the Spanish Space Agency and other ministries with interests in the sector, including Industry and Science, were present at the European University of the Atlantic, located in the Cantabria Science and Technology Park, satisfied with the recent entry into service of the Spainsat NG-I secure communications satellite and the scheduled launch of its twin, the NG-II, in a few weeks' time.
They were also very pleased with the imminent signing of the agreement between the Ministry of Defence and Hisdesat, which will give the final green light to two Paz 2 radar technology observation satellites. Their manufacture has been assigned to Airbus Space Systems Spain in Getafe (Madrid) and will have a significant impact on the national industry, which is why Hisdesat has just received authorisation from the Council of Ministers to obtain a loan of €1.01185 billion from the Ministry of Industry.
Around 250 professionals from the entire national space sector and military personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force with responsibilities in extraterrestrial space matters exchanged and shared their views and reflections and even allowed themselves to disagree. They did so ‘with complete freedom’ because, in addition to preventing the presence of the media, the seminar organisers required attendees to swear that they would not quote or identify the views, comments or statements made by specific individuals.
However, ATALAYAR has learned that the views expressed by the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of the Air and Space Force (JEMA), General Francisco Braco, have highlighted the ‘growing militarisation of space’, which has become a ‘scenario of power and confrontation’. The assessments of both have coincided with the final statement by the SEDEF, which emphasised that space dominance is a ‘strategic pillar for the security of military operations and emergency intervention’.
Lack of own observation satellites in the visible and infrared spectra
In essence, the three authorities referred to the expectations raised by the Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defence approved by Moncloa and the needs outlined in the recently published National Aerospace Security Strategy, including the provision of military space systems ‘that guarantee the protection of critical national satellite assets’, such as secure communications and Earth observation.
The list of priorities cited by Admiral López Calderón considers it essential to ‘ensure’ the functioning of satellite positioning and navigation systems, ‘implement’ a sovereign space traffic management system and ‘develop dual-use space systems for civil and military purposes’. However, neither the JEMAD, the JEMA nor the SEDEF has allowed itself to translate the aforementioned identified needs, or others, into specific programmes that would cover important military capabilities and bring innovation and future workloads to the national space industry.
The Santander Seminar, which its sponsors define as a ‘collective forum for analysis and space thinking’, has focused in this edition on the rapid changes affecting defence, security and industry, both nationally and internationally, and their impact on Spanish and European military operations. Most of the executives attending the seminar have been in the space industry for decades and regularly interact with their counterparts in other countries and organisations around the world, so their opinions are based on a deep knowledge of the sector.
Thus, from both the governmental and business spheres, civilians and military personnel have agreed that it is necessary to focus ‘on niches where excellence can be achieved and discard projects based on illusions’. Some speakers emphasised the advisability of investing in the immediate or near future in the development of advanced sensors, signal intelligence equipment and, in particular, in launching a quantum key distribution (QKD) system.
Others, however, have questioned Spain's ability to compete internationally in the field of commercial space launchers with domestically produced rockets, while highlighting the major limitations to their launch from Spain. Criticism has also been levelled at the possibility of currently positioning artificial intelligence systems on board satellites, as ‘their operation requires a large amount of energy’.
The Santander forum also discussed the need to allocate funds and ‘launch a national programme of low-orbit, high-resolution observation satellites in the visible and infrared spectrums’. This is a high-priority need for the Armed Forces, in order to equip themselves with their own sovereign satellite system, but it has been on the back burner at the Ministries of Defence and Industry for years. The importance of Spanish contributions to the European programmes that will be launched at the European Space Agency (ESA) ministers' summit scheduled for next November was also discussed.
For the benefit of military operations and in support of society
A controversial issue that has been debated is whether it is essential to create a national champion in the space sector. Companies with a strong international reputation for the quality and excellence of their products, such as GMV, Sener and the Oesia group, do not want to be ‘swallowed up’ by companies that are hunting them down to boost their industrial capabilities, as would be the case with Indra. On the contrary, they argue that it is desirable to have different specialised national drivers that act as accelerators for the rest of the industry.
The Chief of Staff of the Air and Space Force (JEMA), General Francisco Braco, in his speech on the operational domain that outer space has become, wanted to convey that, in his first year at the helm of the Spanish aerospace force, he has witnessed the ‘exponential growth of the space domain from the perspective of security and defence’.
He argued that the Space Command, which includes the Space Operations and Surveillance Centre (COVE), is the organisation responsible for ‘monitoring outer space’. He emphasised that this work is carried out not only for the benefit of military operations, but ‘also in support of society, so that everyone can enjoy the services provided by our satellites, permanently monitoring their security and defence’.
General Braco revealed that his army has several initiatives underway with the national defence industry. One of these is a new Space Situational Awareness and Control tool being implemented at COVE. Another is a Ground Network of Robotic Observatories which, equipped with passive radio frequency sensors, can obtain electronic intelligence from space. A third is a ground-based radar for tracking space objects, an evolution and improvement of the surveillance radar located at the Morón air base (Seville).
However, he specified that, above all, Spain advocates ‘responsible use of space, which does not exclude having effective capabilities to deter and, if necessary, defend’. Achieving this means having an Air and Space Force that is ‘prepared, equipped, trained and ready to protect our assets, guarantee the use of our satellite systems and ensure freedom of action in and from space’.
He also pointed out that ‘in order to progress, a strong public-private partnership working in the same direction is essential’. In this regard, he called for collaboration with industry, universities, the General State Administration, ‘with the Spanish Space Agency as its leading exponent’, and, of course, for strengthening cooperation at the multinational and bilateral levels.
The cream of the national space sector
The sponsors of the Santander Seminar are the companies Acorde, Airbus Space Systems España, GMV, Indra, Isdefe, Sener, Telefónica, Thales Alenia Space España, together with Hisdesat, which acts as the conductor, and which together have managed to bring together in Santander the cream of the national space sector.
In addition to those already mentioned, other government representatives who spoke included the Secretary General for Innovation at the Ministry of Science, Teresa Riesgo; the Director General of the Spanish Space Agency, Juan Carlos Cortés, and its Directors of Security/Planning and Programmes and Industry, Air Force General Juan Carlos Sánchez Delgado and Cecilia Hernández, respectively; and the Director General of Defence Strategy and Innovation, Air Force Lieutenant General Miguel Ivorra.
Also present were the Director of the Intelligence Centre (CIFAS), Lieutenant General Antonio Romero; the Head of Air Combat Command, Lieutenant General Julio Nieto; the newly appointed Director General of INTA, Lieutenant General Enrique Campo; the Chief of Space Command, General Isaac Crespo; the Chief of Joint Cyber Command, Vice Admiral Javier Roca; and the Director of the Department of National Security, Air Force General Loreto Gutiérrez, among many others.
On behalf of the industry, the head of Space Systems at Airbus Defence & Space Spain, Raquel González Sola, and the head of Telecommunications Programmes, Enrique Granell, presented their vision; the directors general of Space and Satellite Navigation Systems at GMV, Enrique Fraga and Miguel Romay, respectively; the president of Hisdesat, Admiral Santiago Bolíbar, with its general manager, Miguel Ángel García Primo, and its directors of Operations and Business Development, Basilio Garrido and Miguel Ángel Redondo, respectively.
The CEO of Acorde, Manuel Lobeira; the director of Indra Espacio, Fernando García Martínez-Peñalver, and the director of satellite systems, Augusto Caramagno; the CEO and Director of Space and Science at Sener Aeroespacial, José Julián Echevarría and Diego Rodríguez, respectively; as well as the Managing Director and Director of Strategy at Thales Alenia Space España, Ismael López and Jose Antonio Álvarez de Arcaya, respectively; and many more. In short, the most influential voices in the Spanish space ecosystem.