The Secretary of State for Trade and the Director General of Armaments and Material wanted to know the proposals of the national businessmen

Spanish industry seeks to increase its cooperation with the Emirates and the Gulf countries at Idex

photo_camera PHOTO/Atalayar - The Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, and the Director General for Armaments and Material, Admiral Santiago Ramón González Gómez, visited the Spanish national pavilion at Idex and Navdex on 22 February

A select group of Spanish companies are present at the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) and its twin event dedicated to Naval Defence and Maritime Security (Navdex) to showcase their capabilities and increase their presence in the important market of the Gulf and neighbouring countries.

Nine Spanish firms have come to Abu Dhabi with the intention of finding their niche or expanding their existing one in a hyper-competitive region of the planet, where the large European, North American and Asian multinationals dominate the sales of weapons systems in the countries that make up the region. 

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The companies Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, Everis Aerospace & Defence, Expal, Grabysur, Hisdesat, Instalaza, Navantia, Tecnobit and Uro, organised around a national pavilion set up by the Spanish Association of Defence, Aeronautics, Security and Space Technology Companies (TEDAE), will be at Idex and Navdex with their best products and services.

To demonstrate the Ministry of Defence's support for companies in the sector, an official delegation led by the Director General of Armaments and Material, Admiral Santiago Ramón González Gómez, has arrived in Abu Dhabi to see the range of new products and services on display by Spanish companies, as well as to get a close-up view of new products and services from other countries.

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During his stay, Admiral González Gómez also met with the emirati heads of both shows and with authorities from the Ministry of Defence to inform them directly and in detail about the second edition of the International Defence and Security Fair, which is scheduled to be held in Madrid from 3 to 5 November, and to invite them to attend.

Showcasing state-of-the-art solutions and services

The Spanish businessmen were also accompanied by the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, who had previously held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi. During her visit, Xiana Méndez emphasised that her presence was due to her desire to "strengthen trade alliances between Spain and the Emirates". To achieve this, one of her objectives is to "create a joint commission focused on bilateral cooperation and attracting investment from the Emirates to Spain". 

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The Spanish Ministry of Defence's strategic services operator Hisdesat has presented to the Emirati authorities, other countries in the area and official delegations the solutions it provides for encrypted government communications, which will be improved by the middle of the decade with its two new Spainsat NG satellites.

Its general manager, Miguel Ángel García Primo, headed the team that explained the advantages offered by the automatic identification system (AIS) for ships on board its Paz satellite, which is equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology. The CEO of ADS Photonics, Javier Martí, took advantage of his stay at the fair to explain the advantages of using photonics technology on board space, naval, air and land platforms to the sector's executives. 

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The current edition of Idex has been the scenario in which Tecnobit has signed its first contract with the Emirates Armed Forces, to provide its Army with a state-of-the-art artillery simulator. Called SIMTAR and the result of its experience in the simulators developed for the Spanish Army (SIMACA) and Brazilian Army (SIMAF), it has been specifically designed to virtually train the personnel of an Artillery Group at the technical and tactical level and to train their integration into a higher Brigade level unit.

A company specialising in the development of data links for communications systems, avionics, high-performance electro-optical sensors and encryption equipment, Tecnobit is also showcasing a sample of its most innovative products at the stand it shares with its Emirati strategic business partner Al Badie Group. Among them are its different intelligent screens created for the Spanish 8x8 Dragon Wheeled Combat Vehicle, the Leda, Castor and Odin optronic surveillance systems and the Cifpecom communications encryptor.

Navantia and Escribano are betting big on entering the Emirates

Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E) is at the forefront of national technology in electro-optical systems and remote weapon stations, with sales of more than a thousand units. Its head, Ángel Escribano, emphasises that the Near East and North Africa region is "one of the markets in which we are most present" and that its commitment to the Abu Dhabi fair is "a reflection of our desire to achieve a greater degree of penetration in the area". 

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A national benchmark in land and naval defence systems, the company is presenting as a novelty its light and compact Guardian 30 remote-controlled tower, which competes to equip the VCR 8x8 Dragon. Modular in conception and capable of interconnecting sensors and external systems, it incorporates a 30-millimetre MK 44 S cannon and a coaxial machine gun. Also on display is the ground version of the ASPIS remote-controlled weapon station, the lightest on the market. Weighing less than 90 kilos, it is specially designed to be armed with 7.62 calibre single or rotary saturation machine guns.

The Spanish public company Navantia, dedicated to the design and construction of high-tech military and civilian vessels, has come to Navdex with its proposals for variants of the F-110, the new frigate concept whose programme is currently in the development phase for the Spanish Navy.

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Navantia's presence in Abu Dhabi is backed by the achievement of having recently been awarded the contract by the US Navy for the maintenance and repair of the Arleigh Burke class destroyers (DDG) and others deployed at the Rota naval base (Cadiz). With a turnover of 822.4 million euros and a term until January 2028, the important contract consolidates Navantia as the main logistical support for the US Navy in Spain, a role it has been playing since 2013.

Sponsored by Everis Aerospace & Defense, the firm Simloc, which specialises in extended reality flight simulators for civil and military aviation, has attracted interest with its virtual test bench for the European Eurofighter fighter, which it has developed for the Air Force's Logistical Centre for Armament and Experimentation (CLAEX).

Expal prominently displayed its innovative Dual-Eimos mortar carrier vehicle system, which incorporates automatic fire control equipment, Instalaza showed its light anti-tank weapons and optional vision equipment from the Alcotán 100 family, while Uro exhibited a couple of the latest versions of its VAMTAC 4x4 all-terrain vehicle.

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