The war in Gaza continues unabated after the commemorations of the second anniversary of the brutal attacks against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. The Israeli army continues its offensive against Hamas and the Palestinian civilian population, which has led a large group of countries to oppose and denounce the crimes perpetrated in the Strip. Among them is Spain, which also approved a total cut and suspension of the acquisition of weapons from the Jewish State.
Today, Israel is one of the most important suppliers of cutting-edge military technology on the planet. Its contracts for the delivery of material are innumerable and many of them have been signed with the Government of Spain. Despite Tel Aviv’s critical position on the war, the Iberian country has come a long way to gradually eliminate purchases made there.
Still, it must be said that, even having condemned Israel’s actions, Spain awarded 46 contracts to Jewish companies in 2023. Even after the approval of the total embargo, the Ministry of Defense approved a contract worth 15,000 euros to an Israeli company.
This and other contradictions seem to be in the final stretch to be resolved, although the different organizations are waiting for the big question: where will the resources that were previously allocated to purchases in Israel go? As has been reported from government sources, the budgets approved for the import of Israeli military technology must be awarded again to other companies.
Therefore, the situation keeps the most important firms in the sector in suspense, which are eager to know as soon as possible who are the lucky ones who are going to benefit from the 31 programs that the Ministry must distribute to other partners. These thirty initiatives have a value of 3.8 billion euros, an abundant amount of resources that is essential for the modernization of our Army.
There is still no official information about the distribution, but some have wanted to see clues in the latest movements of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles. Without the programs being approved, Robles visited the official headquarters of Indra this past Tuesday.
In fact, some claim that the well-known Spanish multinational would be in the third part of the 31 programs thanks to its Tess Defense consortium that it shares with the equally famous Santa Bárbara (General Dynamics) and SAPA. We will have to wait to see if these suspicions are confirmed. What is certain is that the Government has insisted on accelerating the production of the 8×8 Dragon vehicle, which has been delayed for years, although several deliveries are expected before the end of this year.
Without being yet defined, where are those 3.8 billion euros going to be allocated? The data can be found in the successive cancellations of assets carried out by Spain against Israeli firms. In the last year, the awards of the SILAM (High Mobility Launcher System), Spike LR2 guided missiles and the Litening V designators have been cancelled. Their elimination has affected the entire Armed Forces in a different way.
As for SILAM, this award was focused on increasing the Army’s capacity in long-range rocket artillery. Its development was in the hands of the Spanish company Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and was based on the Precise and Universal Launch System (PULS) developed by the Israeli Elbit Systems. According to official sources, the value of the contract was 576.4 million euros, a figure increased by other sources to a total amount of 700 and 823 million euros.
On the other hand, the award for the Spike LR2 guided missiles was very important to modernize the anti-tank characteristics of the Army and Marine Corps units. Its mission was to replace obsolescent systems with 5th generation material with the best features. The agreement made with a subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems amounted to 287 million euros and was going to be responsible for supplying 168 launchers and 1,680 missiles. That said, right now the Ministry of Defense is already looking for alternatives. There is a whole list that could be interesting, such as Akeron (Europe), Javelin (United States) and Roketsan (Türkiye).
Finally, the award of the Litening V target designators was intended for the Air and Space Army. It was designed to equip the new Eurofighter combat aircraft acquired under the Halcón I and II programs. These pods are essential to carry out precision air-to-ground missions. The contract, awarded to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was valued at 207.4 million euros.
When will the new awards be known? It is still difficult to determine, but it will not take long for them to become known. This week there were indications that the programs were going to be approved, but the Government has decided to delay it due to the commemoration of October 7. So we will have to wait until next week to see if the unknowns are cleared up.