Indra leads Spanish alliance to protect Europe's underwater critical infrastructure
The project will integrate sovereign artificial intelligence, advanced sensors and unmanned vehicles. Its aim is to continuously monitor the body of water, from the surface to the seabed. The agreement positions the national industry as a benchmark in European security.
Published on 4 November 2026 - 22:29 GMT+1•Updated 22:39
In France, seven leading technology firms, with Indra at the head together with SAES, UTEK, Aragon Photonics, Iqua Robotics, FYLA and Sateliot, joined forces this Wednesday in Paris to tackle one of the biggest vulnerabilities in international security: protecting the seabed.
At the Euronaval exhibition, top industry executives signed a strategic agreement to develop the SIPRIS initiative, a project designed to give Spain technological sovereignty in the protection and continuous monitoring of underwater cables and critical infrastructure.
Indra will lead ecosystem coordination and take on the overall integration of the system through its Seadef architecture and the sovereign artificial intelligence platform IndraMind, reinforced by the use of unmanned aerial drones.
For Ana Belén Buendía, the company’s naval director, Sipris responds to the "pressing need" to monitor the underwater environment in order to provide Europe with technological sovereignty. She stressed that the alliance of leading Spanish firms will make it possible to build a comprehensive solution and position the national industry at the forefront of a sector that is gaining strategic importance.
Drones, fibre and satellites to secure the seabed
The other partners will deploy a multidisciplinary technology network to secure the marine environment. SAES will contribute its sensors and sonar processing for threat detection, while autonomous control will be shared between UTEK, responsible for surface vehicles (USV), and Iqua Robotics, focused on unmanned submarines (UUV) for infrastructure inspection.
Aragon Photonics will handle anomaly detection via fibre optics, supported by FYLA’s underwater optical communications and the satellite coverage provided by Sateliot.
This alliance lays the foundations for building a modular and scalable industrial ecosystem, designed to progressively integrate new players, technology centres and SMEs from the sector.
The project will immediately move into the phase of field testing before its launch on the market. With this step, Spain makes a decisive move in the defence industry and joins the small club of powers capable of protecting their own underwater infrastructure.
