The “Defence Industry: R&D” workshop, organised by the Defence Technologies Committee of the Spanish Institute of Engineering (IIE), was held yesterday, 25 May, at that institution’s assembly hall.
The IIE Defence Technologies Committee held a series of conferences in 1999 and 2000 on the theme of “Defence Industry Perspectives at the Dawn of the 21st Century”, devoted to R&D in the area of defence. These gatherings provided the evidence that the Spanish and European defence industrial and technological base is vital as a strategic asset and that joint efforts should be made to maintain and improve it.
The IIE Defence Technologies Committee thought it important to renew this type of initiative and started a new series of workshops, with yesterday’s being the second.
Daniel Mosquera Benítez, head of R&D at Isdefe and an aeronautical engineer, gave a presentation on “R&D in the Aeronautical Defence Industry”, in which he went over the main European aeronautical projects in which Isdefe has taken part and underscored the importance of technology transfer in civil-military research programmes. He also noted that the focus of the European defence research programme will be on obtaining capabilities, developing critical defence technologies and exploring future disruptive innovations.
Isdefe’s involvement at this workshop reflects its constant commitment to innovation and to the exchange of knowledge in the field of Defence. Isdefe carries out R&D projects for Spain’s national government that combine technology, competitiveness and quality.