The Spanish defense of the last century has been built on the basis of delicate balances: first the almost total dependence on foreign allies, then the integration in large international consortiums and, later, the comfort of buying abroad what was not known or did not want to be manufactured within. This model, born in the heat of NATO and post-war industrial Europe, worked as long as the geopolitical chessboard was stable.
Today, however, it begins to show cracks that force to rethink alliances.
The “sovereignty mode.” Yes, Spain has taken an abrupt and unusual turn in its military industrial policy by activating a “sovereignty mode” that combines accelerated rearmament and technological rupture with traditional allies.
A decision forced by political embargo on Israel and the deterioration of the environment European strategic but converted into a State strategy: the country has assumed that, without its own industry, any military capacity is fragile in a real war scenario. The result is a draft decision: manufacture key rocket launchers and howitzers for the Army at home, even if this implies more costs, more risks and longer deadlines.
SILAM as a breaking point. The program of High Mobility Launcher System has become the symbolic piece of this industrial catharsis, moving from a design based on Israeli technology by Elbit Systems to a completely national solution. Not only that, along the way has been discarded both to Israeli suppliers and to the American alternative of Lockheed Martin, despite the fact that their missiles offered a quick and proven exit.
The decision to move forward without shortcuts reflects a conscious bet for not depending on licenses, political vetoes or external operational limitations, even if it implies delays and assuming that, for years, Spain will lack of certain abilities fully mature medium and long range attacks. If you will, it is a strategic bet that sacrifices speed in exchange for control, something unusual in the recent history of national defense.
Navy
An alliance and nationalize brain and muscle. The union between Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and GMV materializes this strategy by concentrating both the industrial platform and critical digital systems in Spain.
In this way, both the SILAM rocket launcher and the new ATP howitzers will carry fire direction, navigation, command and control through the manufacturing of designs, code and maintenance entirely in Spain. In other words, in theory, this remove dependencies on the most sensitive components and guarantees total control about the life cycle of the systems, from initial integration to their use in combat and their maintenance in the event of a prolonged conflict.
A massive rearmament. Furthermore, the plan is not limited to SILAM and is supported by a self-propelled wheeled and tracked artillery program valued in more than 7.8 billion of euros, a scenario led by Indra together with EM&E.
Systems integration will allow batteries to receive targets, calculate trajectories and open fire in seconds. This complete digitalization responds to the high intensity war model that NATO promoteswhere decision speed “aims” to be as decisive as firepower.
Legal tensions and exceptions. There is no doubt, the depth of this turn sovereigntist advances between frictions, as demonstrated the judicial appeal of Santa Bárbara Sistemas, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, against the public loans granted to Indra and EM&E.
At the same time, the Government has had to activate exceptionality clauses to the Israeli embargo to protect strategic Airbus programs. That is to say, industrial sovereignty, in practice, advances in fits and starts and forces constant balances between political principles, employment and international commitments.
The horizon. In parallel, the growing position of EM&E as key shareholder in the capital of Indra and its technological alliance with GMV They reinforce or feed the idea of a future national champion capable of competing with European giants such as the all-powerful Rheinmetall or Leonardo.
The Executive, just in case, observes this possibility cautiouslyaware of the risks of concentration and conflicts of interest. In any case, the strategic message has already been sent: Spain has decided to stop being just a client of the global arms market to try to control, for the first time in decades, its own military capacity.
Image | EM&E, Navy
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