The defense industry calls for greater investment to achieve full sovereignty and reduce its foreign dependence on countries like the United States amid constant geopolitical tensions. Representatives of leading and representative companies in the sector (Oesia, Navantia, Airbus and Thales) closed ranks in the VI Defense Forum of ‘elEconomista.es’where they pointed out that to fulfill this mission it is vital to strengthen the supply chain and innovate as much as possible to become capable of exporting technology.
Ricardo Domínguez, president of Navantiabegan the turn of interventions to affirm that “we are in a complex moment in which we face important challenges such as the need to invest in technological sovereignty through R&D or have budget stability. We also need to bet on attracting talent, taking into account that we compete with any company in the world, not just defense companies.
For its part, Luis Furnells, executive president of Grupo OESÍApointed to the duties that companies in the sector now have marked in the new agenda. “I believe that our European strategic agenda has set us some important challenges. Europe has an objective and Spain is well aligned with these goals.” The defense industry, in Furnells’ opinion, “is about technology and also innovation, which will give us greater deterrence.” He also stressed that cooperation is important, especially to build alliances. “Now, we have to coordinate. The future of the European industry is guaranteed as long as we dedicate the money to innovate,” the executive added.
The supply chain, vital
Francis Javier Sánchez Segura, president of Airbus Spainbrought to the table the importance of having a robust supply chain. For example, the aerocomponents manufacturer has more than 1,000 suppliers and invests 1.2 billion euros each year. “The supply chain in many areas has not yet recovered from covid,” he warned, since these companies during the pandemic had to invest a lot to survive and are now paying the costs of their survival. “We and the administration must provide tools so that these companies survive. In Airbus, 70% of the value is in the supply chain, while in Airbus only 30% remains,” he exemplified.
For Jesús Sánchez Bargos, president and CEO of Thales Spain, “Sovereignty in defense begins with having a robust supply chain and to achieve this we must opt for local production”. This aspect has many advantages, such as return on investment in other areas of the economy and benefits in terms of sustainability. “The defense sector can thus contribute to decarbonization objectives, said the executive.
Furnells, from Oesía, highlighted this need, while pointing out that to satisfy it “we have to focus on Europe. We must know where we are going.” Rather than talking about the impact of Donald Trump, for example, on the strategy of European industry, we should talk about Europe’s strategy “by itself,” he stressed. “We need an industrial plan that articulates a sector capable of acquiring material and also operating it, since the bulk of the cost is in this second phase, so it is necessary to have a robust supply chain,” he stated.
Support and talent
Two other topics that were on the table were the need for institutional support for driving companies, on the one hand, and the need for these companies to retain talent. Regarding this first aspect, the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez, stated that the Government “is supporting us and accompanies us on international missions, as well as at different fairs”.
“In the geopolitical sphere, G2G (Government To Government, in the jargon of the sector) has a lot of weight for good and bad,” Domínguez acknowledged. Institutional support has appeared whenever there has been a need, said the executive. “In the end the motivation is very clear: if things go well for us, so do the economies of the areas in which we are present”he concluded.
News in expansion.
#defense #industry #asks #greater #autonomy #reduce #dependence
