The agreement was signed at Diehl Defence’s headquarters in Überlingen, Germany, by Ángel Escribano, Executive Chairman of Indra Group, and José Vicente de los Mozos, CEO of the company, alongside Helmut Rauch, CEO of Diehl Defence, and Roland Greiner, Vice President of International Sales for Latin America, Spain and Portugal. The collaboration focuses on combining Indra’s expertise in radar systems with Diehl Defence’s capabilities in missile technologies.
Both companies will work together to develop multi-layer Ground-Based Air Defence systems. In the short term, the cooperation will focus on creating a medium-range ground-based air defence solution tailored to the operational needs of the Spanish Armed Forces.
The initiative will rely on Spain’s technological and industrial base and could later expand into maritime and air domains as well as other emerging technologies. Through this collaboration, Indra aims to reinforce its role in building a national industrial capability for advanced air and missile defence systems.
Ángel Escribano emphasised the importance of closer cooperation between European defence companies in the current strategic environment. “We have a responsibility to forge technological and industrial partnerships in Europe to deliver increasingly advanced defence systems to allied armed forces, meeting tight deadlines and growing production volumes. This requires changing the way we have worked so far and adapting to the new context.”
José Vicente de los Mozos highlighted how the agreement strengthens Indra’s technological and production capacity in a key defence domain. “With this agreement, Indra Group takes a step forward in strengthening its technological and production capabilities in a key domain. In addition to the strong position that Spain and Indra already hold in air and air defence, this agreement now adds the production in Spain of new systems of this type and missiles.”
The cooperation takes place amid rising defence spending across Europe and the launch of major modernisation programmes. Spain has introduced Special Modernisation Programmes for its armed forces, committing €14 billion in investment in 2025.
At the same time, the European Union’s ReArm Europe and Readiness 2030 initiatives are expected to mobilise around €800 billion in defence investment in the coming years. Within this framework, the European Commission has already presented the first four “European Readiness Flagships”, with air defence identified as a key priority.
Indra and Diehl Defence plan to leverage their complementary technological strengths to develop and deliver advanced air defence solutions. Diehl contributes extensive experience in ground-based air defence systems and guided missiles such as the IRIS-T SLM, SLS and SLX, while Indra provides capabilities in radar, tactical communications and command-and-control systems for air and missile defence.
