Spain names Indra as national prime-contractor for FCAS

The Spanish government has appointed Indra to lead its efforts on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme with Germany and France.

The New Generation Fighter is the centerpiece of the tri-national FCAS project being undertaken by Germany, France, and Spain. Spain has named Indra as its national lead company for the effort. (IHS Markit/Gareth Jennings)

The decision, which was announced on 6 September, will see Indra co-ordinate the industrial participation of Spain on the project to develop a next-generation air combat system, alongside Airbus in Germany and Dassault in France.

“Indra, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and within the framework of the industrial development plan associated with the programme, will strive to ensure that Spanish industry participates as actively as possible in the latter and facilitate its access to opportunities for knowledge generation, business development, export capacity, the creation of technologies that can also be used in the civil field and high-value employment generation. The FCAS will generate high levels of knowledge and added value for Spanish companies and provide them with opportunities to develop exportable products beyond the programme,” the company said.

The announcement that Indra will lead Spain’s FCAS effort comes about three months after the country officially joined the project to develop a new fighter combat aircraft as part of a wider system-of-systems. The signing ceremony at the Paris Air Show in June came about four months after a letter of intent (LOI) for Spain’s inclusion in the project to develop a New Generation Fighter (NGF) to operate as part of the wider the FCAS (known as Système de Combat Aérien Futur [SCAF] in France) system-of-systems. As previously reported by Jane’s