Manuel Lobeira discusses the impact of the NATO summit on the Spanish defence industry at Infodefensa

ACORDE’s CEO took part in the event organised by Infodefensa to review the outcomes of the Alliance’s summit held in Ankara, alongside representatives from Aicox and EM&E Group.

ACORDE’s CEO, Manuel Lobeira, took part in the event organised by Infodefensa to analyse the outcomes of the NATO summit held in Ankara, at which member countries agreed to invest 43.8 billion euros in new defence equipment acquisitions.

During the event, ACORDE, Aicox and EM&E Group agreed that the new initiatives signed during the Defence Industry Forum, together with the commitment to invest tens of billions of euros, paint an optimistic picture for the Spanish industry, although they pointed out that the road ahead will not be easy and that Spanish companies will have to compete with firms from other countries.

“The big question is whether the technology to be purchased will come from one side of the Atlantic or the other”

For Manuel Lobeira, the big question is whether the technology to be purchased will come “from one side of the Atlantic or the other”. The head of the Cantabria-based company, which specialises in radiofrequency systems for military projects, stressed that the increase in investment brings with it the risk of allied countries moving forward at “different speeds”, and also emphasised the need to sustain investment over the medium and long term in order to build cutting-edge technological capabilities.

Lobeira also spoke up in defence of the Spanish defence industry: “We are highly efficient, working with budgets several orders of magnitude smaller than those of other countries”.

On the international scene, ACORDE’s CEO expressed some scepticism about a potential end to the war in Ukraine and warned of the lack of a defence culture. Should conflicts subside, he reflected, “I’m not sure that political leaders will be able to justify to citizens the need for continued investment in defence”.