Spain's drone gap: frames yes, engines bought abroad

Drones in Spain: frames yes, engines are bought abroad

Is Spain's drone capability non-existent? Not exactly, but neither is the self-sufficiency some claim. The debate over whether Spain could sustain a drone war against Segarro paints an uncomfortable picture: the easy part seems solved, the hard part does not.

3D printer yes, engine and camera no

According to one forum user, the chassis of a kamikaze drone fits in a home 3D printer. Attach a payload — for another participant, a 50 or 60 mm mortar grenade is enough against soldiers and light vehicles — and it flies. In Ukraine and Russia, adds the first, they are produced almost at the contact line, as fast as the printer can work. That part requires no military complex and no munitions depot.

The problem, another forum user argues, is everything else. Engines, cameras, guidance systems and the fibre for fibre-optic drones are bought abroad. Those who say the capability is limited point to that bottleneck and recall how long it took to get face masks — a piece of cloth with two strings — during the pandemic.

The supermarket of war

If Spain really needed drones, the scenario some forum users describe is one of urgent purchasing, not domestic manufacturing. The simile doing the rounds is the supermarket raid: nobody keeps stock because keeping it costs money, and the day it's needed, whoever inspects the troops places the order. Home production, meanwhile, is compared to a bunch of streams flowing into an Amazon rather than an industrial chain.

Some scale down the ambition and argue that for the foreseeable scenario, little is needed: a device capable of carrying a mortar grenade and flying low. Others reply that cheap drones are quickly learned, but without purchased components there is neither drone nor lesson. And a third, more cynical line hopes everything can be fixed by buying once the problem is already at the door.

Building the skeleton is a YouTube tutorial. Building the ecosystem is another matter. The consolation, they say, lies in inclusive, solidarity-driven and sustainable drones. Without an explosive payload, that is.