Indra to lead three projects within the European Defence Industrial Development Program.

Indra, Spanish company,  will lead three of the main projects financed by the European Commission within the European Defence Industrial Development Program (EDIDP) and will participate as a partner in two more, strengthening its position as one of the large companies leading the construction of “European Defence”. The company has been awarded the contracts for the three proposals that it submitted as leader and it is the company coordinating the most projects of this call.

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Indra will lead three of the main projects financed by the European Commission within the European Defence Industrial Development Program (EDIDP) and will participate as a partner in two more, strengthening its position as one of the large companies leading the construction of “European Defence” (Picture source: Indra)

The result of this call positions Spain as a key player in the new “European Defence” thanks to the firm support that Spain's Defence Ministry is providing for its national industry.

The five initiatives in which Indra is going to participate will generate a total of 175 million euros and will have a funding of 107 million euros from the European Commission, more than 50% of the total budget of this first call of the EDIDP program. Said projects include the participation of defence companies from more than 20 countries.

In every case, we are talking about long-term and technologically advanced undertakings that will strengthen Indra’s innovative and competitive capabilities and that will provide Europe with key capabilities for defence and security, as proven by the fact that all projects led by Indra or in which Indra participates are encompassed within the Permanent Structured Cooperation for Defence matters (PESCO) approved by the EU Council in December 2017. These are strategic projects for the EU and will give structure to the European model for industry cooperation.

With this achievement, Indra is established as the company unifying the defence systems of Europe, and as a driving force in the Spanish technological defence sector, strengthening its competitiveness on a global level in the defence market.

The success of Indra in the EDIDP ensures the continuity of the position attained during the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR). Since its origin in 2017, Indra has participated in the main projects, such as OCEAN 2020 and currently leads the development of the future generation of multi-function antennas (CROWN) that will boost the electronic defence and radar capacity of the next generation of combat aircraft.

Furthermore, Indra is positioned as a key player for the second phase of the European Defence Fund, which will begin next year and is expected to surpass five times the investment of the European Commission in defence programs, reaching 1,250 million euros yearly during the 2021-27 period, and that will be complemented by an equal investment by the Member States.

The three EDIDP projects that Indra leads in this call are centered around the development of command and control capabilities, electronic defence and cybersecurity, three areas in which Indra has extensive experience and a leading position in technological terms internationally. These are:

• The European Strategic Command and Control (ESC2) System will give the EU essential command and control capabilities so that all European countries can act in unison and coordinate with their allies in international missions for peacekeeping. It will be a fully interoperable system with the command and control structures and systems of the EU, the member countries, NATO and civil agencies.

• The Responsive Electronic Attack for Cooperative Task (REACT) Program will enable the air forces of the Member States to conduct operations in which the enemy prevents or denies access to an airspace (A2/AD, anti-access/area denial). These electronic defence systems will be implemented with different configurations, from pods that can be adapted to currently-operating aircraft to specific configurations integrated in future combat aircraft developments, such as the FCAS or in unmanned systems (RPAS).

• Development of the European Cyber Situational Awareness Platform (ECYSAP), which will offer integrated and real-time imaging of cyber threats to which a defence system may be subjected. It will enable immediate reaction capabilities, as well as smart support tools for decision-making.

The other two projects that Indra will participate in as a partner are:

• The anti-collision European system for unmanned aircraft (EUDAAS), which will increase flight safety and will enable the integration of RPAS into the airspace. This is a key capability to enable the operation of large military RPAS without interfering with civil air traffic, and particularly with EuroMALE, currently in development.

• Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) based on Galileo (GEODE) will develop an array of antennas, military receivers and security modules for satellite navigation using the Galileo constellation signals. The devices will be deployed in RPAS, land and naval platforms and time synchronization systems of different nations; furthermore, they will have a common underlying structure that will ensure secure operation of the system.