The CEO of Indra, Josep Maria Recasens, emphasized this Thursday that the technological origin of the Spanish multinational constitutes a "competitive advantage" and a differential trait when positioning itself at the forefront of the sector.
"Indra enjoys a singular, unique position in the market," he pointed out during his speech at the defense forum organized by "El País," where he admitted that he is not sure if in the future it will be more decisive "to be less important to make a large tank that shoots very far, or a radar that deploys as quickly as possible and has the longest range."
In any case, he said he is "convinced that whoever is capable of putting a brain to control complex multidomain scenarios from a sovereign platform supported by artificial intelligence (AI) is going to win." In this sense, he emphasized that this role "can be done from Indra because they are technologically native."
He also stressed that "we have competition at home, we have the will to be relevant not only in 'hardware', not only in land vehicles, but, above all, in the technological domain of the field via 'Command and Control'," statements made in one of his first public appearances since he took office shortly before the summer.
Resilience in the supply chain and artificial intelligence
When asked about the role of AI, Recasens defended the need to ensure "a resilience of the supply chain in all senses, to produce vehicles, to produce radars, but also to guarantee the use of AI in national platforms."
Coming from the automotive sector, an area he constantly referred to in order to draw parallels, the executive urged to transfer to the defense industry "some skills" from automotive that, in his opinion, will allow responding "to the most short-term challenges, such as mass production."
In this line, he insisted that "there are practices in the automotive sector that will help us, one, to mass production, two, to stabilize production programs, and three to improve quality."
European fragmentation and industrial expansion of Indra
Among the ideas he emphasized the most, Recasens described the challenge of the sector as "colossal," and cited as an example Indra's plans, which will "quadruple the industrial footprint to more than 140,000 square meters."
"We are building corridors in the north, in the center, and in the south of Spain," he indicated, specifying that the purpose is "to respond to expectations."
Regarding Europe's position against powers like China or the United States, the Catalan executive stated that "the reality is that Europe is tremendously fragmented, which weakens it against Asian or American hegemonies."
He added that "we have to be, above all, competent companies and have a differential product, and I don't know if it is differential because it is cheaper, because it is more reliable, because it is faster in the 'go to market' or it is more sophisticated, but we have to have a differential product, have the capacity to scale, to run, to make ourselves big, because at the moment that consolidation could arrive we should be relevant enough to look eye to eye," emphasizing that it is a race to "guarantee national security, but also technological security."
Strategic alliances and delivery of the VCR 8x8 Dragon number 100
Asked about possible agreements with Santa Bárbara Sistemas, the Spanish subsidiary of the American giant General Dynamics, Recasens maintained that "there is no one in this world, and less in Europe, who can take on this enormous challenge individually."
Therefore, he argued that "whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not, the ability to weave client-provider or 'company-to-company' or government-government alliances is indispensable, as it is the only way we can maximize the use of resources, competencies, capabilities, and expertise of our people," before defining himself as a 'team player', a 'dealmaker', but, above all, a facilitator.
In this context, he announced that the Tess Defence consortium, participated by Indra (51.1%) and by Sapa Placencia, Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E) and Santa Bárbara Sistemas (GDELS), with 16.3% each, expects to deliver in the "coming weeks" to the Ministry of Defense the VCR8x8 "Dragon" number 100.