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SAES and Thales Spain strengthen industrial partnership and explore new areas of collaboration

SAES and Thales Spain strengthen industrial partnership and explore new areas of collaboration

Publicado: 19/10/2026

The President of Thales Spain, Jesús Sánchez Bargos, and the Director General for Defence, Guillermo Roselló Massa, visited SAES’s facilities in Cartagena, where they met with SAES President José Javier Mármol Peñalver and the company’s Management Committee. The delegation also toured SAES’s headquarters at the shipyard and its production facilities, gaining first-hand insight into the progress of the projects currently being developed jointly by the two companies. 

The relationship between SAES and the Thales Group dates back to 1992, when Thomson Sintra ASM, now Thales, became a shareholder in the Spanish company. Since then, the two companies have worked together on landmark programmes involving underwater technologies developed in Spain. The visit provided an opportunity to review the progress of this long-standing collaboration and identify new opportunities for the two companies to work together.

The most recent example is the BMAS sonar system for the F-110 frigates. The contract, signed in December 2019, covers a ten-year period and is worth €27 million, encompassing the equipment of all five vessels in the series. It included a technology transfer from Thales DMS (Thales Defence Mission Systems), enabling SAES to manufacture, integrate and test in Cartagena a capability that had not previously been available in Spain.The first sonar system in the series was completed in May 2025, with local suppliers contributing to the provision of materials. 

The partnership also includes the integration of Thales’s SonoFlash sonobuoy into SAES’s Sonobuoy Acoustic Processing System (SPAS). The integration was confirmed at FEINDEF in May 2025 and is now operational aboard Airbus C295 aircraft, enhancing the system’s anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance capabilities. 

José Javier Mármol Peñalver, President of SAES, said: “Thales has been part of SAES’s history for more than thirty years, and that long-standing relationship has enabled us to develop capabilities here in Spain that previously had to be sourced from abroad. The F-110 programme is a clear example: today, we manufacture a sonar system in Cartagena, working with Spanish suppliers, that a decade ago was beyond our reach.”

According to Jesús Sánchez Bargos, President of Thales in Spain:“The long-term collaboration between Thales and SAES reflects our firm commitment to Spain and to strengthening its industrial and technological ecosystem. Through partnerships with Spanish companies with a strong local presence, such as SAES, we contribute to developing strategic technological and industrial capabilities for the country, strengthening its autonomy, competitiveness and preparedness to meet the challenges of the current geopolitical context.”

Both companies reaffirmed their commitment to continuing this cooperation and exploring new opportunities for industrial and technological collaboration in the years ahead.

Participation in national and international consortia

SAES is a member of the consortium selected under the European Defence Agency (EDA) call for tender focused on Advanced Materials for Acoustic Signature Management (AMASM).

The successful proposal was submitted by a consortium of Spanish organisations coordinated by the Naval Technology Centre (CTN). Phase 1 of the contract covers a 12‑month period and includes the following activities:

  • Assessment of the technological landscape
  • Definition and selection of defence-sector use cases
  • Requirements definition, prioritisation, and the specification of an AMASM proof of concept for a laboratory environment (up to TRL 3)

SAES’s contribution to the AMASM project is primarily focused on the Work Package dedicated to Roadmap Definition, where it leads the task of identifying and defining use cases within the defence sector. In addition, SAES contributes across the remaining work packages, particularly in the Proof of Concept simulation activities.

SAES is part of the consortium responsible for delivering the NEREUS project, selected under the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2024 call. The consortium is composed of 24 organisations from one country and is led by Navantia. The project has a duration of 42 months and commenced in November 2025.

The objective of NEREUS (Naval System of Systems and Integrated Survivability of Future EU Platforms) is to establish the foundations for intelligent naval system-of-systems concepts for future European maritime platforms. These platforms are expected to operate in a fully integrated and interconnected manner within multi-domain environments, with a strong emphasis on survivability.

SAES’s contribution to the NEREUS project focuses on several key areas, including underwater sensors, underwater communications, signature management, combat cloud technologies and digital twin capabilities.

SAES has been selected by the Regional Development Institute of Murcia (INFO) to deliver a solution to the challenge CAETRA 2024-01 – Intelligent Control of Underwater Pollution, set by the Port Authority of Cartagena (APC), within the framework of the INFO grants for open innovation in the fields of Defence, Security, Reconstruction and Development under the CAETRA programme.

SIMBAAD (Smart Marine Monitoring System Based on an Advanced Buoy) aims to implement and carry out at-sea trials (in a port environment) of an intelligent buoy integrating multiple sensors for the real-time monitoring and control of acoustic, electric, magnetic and chemical pollutant emissions in the marine environment. The project contributes to biodiversity protection and supports compliance with the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The project began in May 2025 and is scheduled for completion in May 2026.

SAES ha participado como miembro del consorcio que ha desarrollado el proyecto BLUESIM seleccionado en la convocatoria de 2023 del PERTE del Sector Naval del Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo.

El consorcio está integrado por 5 entidades nacionales y coordinado por la empresa Clue Technologies. Su fecha de finalización ha sido junio de 2025

BLUESIM (Synthetic Training Platform for Autonomous UxVs) focuses on the research of a new type of training architecture for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems based on deep learning. The project targets two initial applications: the characterisation of a synthetic marine environment for deep learning and the representation of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) with synthetic systems.

SAES lidera dos paquetes de trabajo dentro de este proyecto, relativos a: Caracterización del entorno acústico marino, en el que simula el entorno acústico adaptado a las condiciones del escenario de operación de los UxVs y Modelo de simulación de sensores acústicos y sus interfaces en el que simula un Sonar de Barrido Lateral (SBL) y un sonar de visión frontal. Además participa en otros paquetes de trabajo relativos a actividades como definición de requisitos, definición de la arquitectura del sistema e integración y pruebas del sistema completo.

SAES is a member of the consortium delivering the European E=MCM project, selected under the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2023 call. The consortium brings together 21 organisations from 11 countries and is led by Naval Group Belgium.

The project focuses on the Mine Countermeasures (MCM) domain and builds on the results achieved in its predecessor, MIRICLE (2021–2023), in which SAES also participated.

Diagram

The objective of E=MCM is to develop a system-of-systems architecture comprising advanced, scalable toolboxes of autonomous vehicles and intelligent platforms, alongside decision-support functions, to address mine threats, particularly drifting, moored and buried mines.

SAES’s contribution to the project is primarily centred on the development and at-sea testing of a multi-influence minesweeping system, capable of generating acoustic, electric and magnetic influences, to be integrated into Navantia’s Viento-class unmanned surface vehicle (USV)

A group of people on a boat in the sea

In addition, SAES will develop a software tool for mine threat assessment and a system for reducing the electric and magnetic signatures of USVs. All these activities fall within SAES’s technological priority area of New Threats and Scenarios.

SAES has been selected by the Regional Development Institute of Murcia (INFO) to deliver a solution to the challenge Monitoring of Critical Road and Hydraulic Infrastructure (MIC), set by the Directorate-General for Security and Emergencies of the Region of Murcia. This initiative forms part of the INFO open innovation grants programme in the fields of Defence, Security, Reconstruction and Development, under the CAETRA framework.

The objective of the project is to develop a prototype based on the use of fibre optic cables as sensing elements, enabling the monitoring of the structural condition of critical infrastructure, such as bridges, viaducts and dams.

The project began in July 2024 and is scheduled for completion in January 2026.

SAES has participated in the development of the European SONORA project since November 2022; it was selected in the JPI (Joint Programming Initiative) 2022 call Oceans: Underwater Noise in the Marine Environment. The project has a duration of three years.

SAES participates as an entity subcontracted by the University of Alicante (UA) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), which are both part of the consortium in charge of developing the project in conjunction with three Italian entities.

SONORA (thresholds assessment and impact beyond acoustic pressure level linked to emerging blue-growth activities), undertakes the assessment of quantitative thresholds related to behavioural and physiological impacts on fish, based on the relationships between acoustic pressure and particle movement, to evaluate the impact both variables exert.

SAES’s role in SONORA focused on carrying out measuring campaigns of sound pressure levels and particle motions, as well as analysing the data gathered.

SAES is part of the consortium led by the Centre for Naval and Marine Technology (CTN) selected by the CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) to develop the tender CINEA/2022/OP/0019.

ECOSS (European Catalogue of Sound Signatures) is focused on developing an open library containing a verified and continuously expanding digital catalogue, alongside an AI-based classifier for individual underwater sound signatures in shallow water marine environments

The project began in September 2023, and its completion date was set for January 2025. The consortium is composed of seven entities from five European countries.

SAES’s participation focuses on data collection and the choice of the AI-based algorithms, as well as on their training and testing.

SAES is part of the consortium developing the ePark+ project, selected for funding in the 2022 Science and Innovation Missions call by the CDTI, and which was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. In addition to SAES, the following entities make up the project’s consortium:

  • Navantia (Coordinator)
  • ABANCE
  • ARISNOVA
  • EOLOS
  • PERSEO TECH

Participating as sub-contracted entities: Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), AICIA (University of Seville), and FIDESOL.

This is a collaborative project which will contribute to the technological development of offshore wind power. It began in December 2022 and completed in January 2025.

The ePark+ project is focused on research and development of different digital technologies for the Support of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in offshore wind farms. The project seeks to obtain a technological demonstrator of a Smart System for this function making use of unmanned vehicles, as well as developing a prototype to show its operation in a relevant and controlled setting.

The system will consist of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), which will act as a mothership from which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) will operate, as well as a remote-control centre where all the data received from the sensors on the unmanned vehicles will be centralised.

SAES’s contribution to the ePark+ programme focuses on underwater acoustic propagation and the surveillance of underwater infrastructures by means of sensors installed on the vehicles.

SAES’s participation in this project demonstrates the applicability of technology from the defence sector to the civilian sector, broadening the diversification of the applications of these dual technologies. In the field of unmanned systems, SAES is an expert in sensors in the field of unmanned vehicles to adapt them to other uses through the utilisation of artificial intelligence techniques..

SAES is part of the international consortium developing the SWAT-SHOAL (Swarm and teaming operation of Manned & Unmanned Underwater Vehicle SHOAL) project, selected in the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2022 call in the area of Underwater manned-unmanned teaming and swarms.

SWAT-SHOAL, which began in December 2023, will run for 36 months. It its being developed by a consortium of 20 entities from 12 European countries, coordinated by the Spanish entity NAVANTIA.

The SWAT-SHOAL project is developing the concept of a system-of-systems that integrates different types of manned and unmanned assets as a swarm to achieve greater efficiency in underwater missions such as surveillance, reconnaissance, mine warfare, collaborative engagements, or supporting amphibious operations.

SAES’s participation is centred:

  • on leading Work Package 5 (WP5), focused on identifying technology gaps and defining future roadmaps to eliminate those gaps.
  • participating in the work packages related to: scenario definition and requirements capture, System-of-Systems requirements, platforms and components, communication technology.
  • participating in the work packages related to simulating the demonstration, preparation and execution of the sea demonstration.

SAES is part of the international European consortium developing the UnderSec (Underwater Security) project, selected in the Horizon Europe 2022 call in the topic of Underwater detection and control capabilities

The consortium responsible for the development of the project is composed of a total of 22 entities from 7 European countries and is coordinated by the German entity Fraunhofer. The project has a duration of 36 months, with and its scheduled completion is in October 2026.

A prototype system using a modular approach consisting of systems, sensors and robotic assets will be developed within the scope of the project for the surveillance of ships, ports and maritime infrastructures, and will include demonstrations in real operational settings.

SAES leads Work Package 3 (WT3) Protection technologies for continuous underwater surveillance, potential threats’ detection for early warning and deter actions. For this, SAES will develop a barrier of magnetic sensors for the detection of possible intruders and will provide its DDS-03 Diver Detection Sonar and its DES diver access deterrence system. Furthermore, it will participate in other work packages related to activities such as the definition of operational concepts, system integration, and prototype testing.

SAES has participated in the dTHOR project since December 2022, chosen in the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2021 call, in the category of Smart vessels, area: Digital Ship Structural Health Monitoring.

The project had a duration of 36 months and was developed by a consortium of 35 entities from 9 European countries, coordinated by the Norwegian entitiy SINTEF.

dTHOR (digital ship sTructural Health mOnitoRing) develops the next generation of a predictive structural health monitoring system for ships. This system is based on the innovative use of: large amounts of load and response measurements obtained from robust and advanced sensors, a digital environment compatible with recognised open standards for data exchange, and hybrid analysis and modelling, which combines physical and data-driven models.

SAES’s participation in dTHOR focuses on the areas of modelling, including the development of the ship’s vibration-noise transfer function, selection of sensors for acoustic signature acquisition, and management of underwater radiated noise.

SAES is part of the consortium of entities developing the EPC (European Patrol Corvette) project, selected in the 2021 call of the European Defence Fund, in the category: Offshore patrol vessel, theme: Modular and multirole patrol corvette.

The EPC began in November 2023, has a duration of 24 months, and is being developed by a consortium of 35 entities (including beneficiaries, affiliated entities, and subcontracted entities) from 12 European countries, coordinated by the Franco-Italian entity NAVIRIS.

The EPC project is focused on the development of conceptual studies, up to the initial design, of a reference corvette-class ship, capable of carrying out a wide range of missions in future operational contexts. The design produced will lead to the development of a modular and flexible ship, more energy-efficient, more environmentally friendly and safe, and more interoperable and cyber-secure compared to current configurations.

SAES’s participation in EPC is focused on the active management of the ship’s multi-influence signatures, including:

  •  Measurement and analysis of the ship’s underwater signature.
  • Prediction and control of acoustic, electric, and magnetic signatures.
  • Acoustic noise monitoring system.
  • Digital twin for acoustic signature management and control.
  • Tool for evaluating the corvette’s detectability against naval mines.

SAES has participated in the development of the MIRICLE project (December 2021 to December 2023), selected for funding by the European Commission in the 2020 EDIDP (European Defence Industrial Development Program) call, under the theme: Solutions to detect, identify, counter, and protect against the threat of mines, including those operating at great depths.

The project has been developed by a consortium composed of 18 entities from 10 European nations and coordinated by the French entity Naval Group.

MIRICLE (Mine Risk Clearance for Europe) addresses the main components of an innovative mine countermeasure solution, such as: mission system, communication network, MCM (Mine Countermeasure) vessel, and robots, using Artificial Intelligence to support decision-making and leading to significant improvements in the execution of MCM missions. More specifically, it will enable European navies to benefit from the highest and most interoperable military mine countermeasure capabilities, in accordance with NATO recommendations.

SAES’s participation in the project is focused on two areas: reduction of electric and magnetic signatures, including the definition, design, development, and testing of an electromagnetic signature reduction system, and the study, analysis, and evaluation of the mine threat.

SAES had participated in the development of the METASUB project (November 2021 to November 2024), selected in the 2020 COINCIDENTE call (Cooperation in Scientific Research and Development in Strategic Technologies) by the Spanish Ministry of Defence.

The consortium responsible for the execution of METASUB was composed of the following entities: CTN (coordinator), Navantia, and SRG, with SAES participating as a subcontracted entity of CTN.

The METASUB project (Acoustic Materials for the Reduction of Submarine Signatures) is focused on implementing a methodology to obtain different configurations of panels, based on metamaterials, that improve the acoustic performance of the current panels on the superstructure of the Navy’s submarines.

SAES’s participation in METASUB focuses on the following areas: defining the configurations of interest for which the design, optimisation, and manufacturing will be customised, and defining the frequency ranges of interest for each application and the design objectives for the reduction of the electromagnetic signature.

Additionally, SAES participates in the definition and execution of a marine environment test to verify the real-world behaviour of a large object previously designed and manufactured, as well as in potential tests for acoustic and electromagnetic isolation and absorption at sea of a larger-scale sphere.

SAES was integrated in the international consortium that is developing the SEA Defence project (December 2020 to May 2023), chosen for grants in the EDIDP (European Defence Industrial Development Programme) 2019 call. EDIDP is the precursor programme in the field of technological development of the current European Defence Fund (EDF) focused on promoting innovation, research and technological development at all stages of the life cycle of defence products and technologies.

The consortium has been constituted by a total of 12 entities from eight European countries and coordinated by the Dutch DAMEN shipyard. SAES participated under the modality of Third-Party Related Entity of Navantia.

The SEA DEFENCE (Survivability, Electrification, Automation, Detectability, Enabling Foresight of European Naval Capabilities in Extreme conditions) project is aimed at providing the European Commission and the Member States with a complete and up-to-date roadmap on the technologies to be included in next generation naval platforms.

SAES participated in the project within Work Package 3 Lower Detectability, centred on identifying technological gaps and detailing the actions to be developed to counteract the threat created by the growing detection capacities of new sensors, both on the surface and underwater, and the ways to counteract that threat by means of reducing the detectability of naval platforms, on the basis of current and emerging technologies.

SAES is part of the consortium of European entities that is developing the USSPS (Unmanned Semi-fixed Sea Platforms) project selected by the 2019 European Commission call on the topic: Maritime surveillance generated by networks of sensors based on fixed and/or semi-fixed unmanned platforms.

The chosen consortium is made up of a total of 17 entities from seven European countries and is coordinated by the Greek entity ETME. SAES participates under the modality of Third-Party Related Entity of Navantia. The project has a duration of 42 months and is scheduled to finish in May 2025.

The project is focused on the development of a prototype unmanned platform which is highly autonomous, energy-efficient, based on miniaturised oil rig technologies and equipped with a wide range of air, surface and underwater sensors. This platform could be deployed in any geographical area, including in deep waters, and in adverse weather conditions, thus making it particularly versatile in its operations.

SAES’s participation is focused on integrating its DDS-03 Diver Detection Sonar and its associated DES system into the platform, to deter divers from approaching the protected area by emitting acoustic messages. SAES also participates in developing the requirements and in the design of the prototype of the complete system.

SIRAMIS (Signature Response Analysis on Multi Influence Sensors) is a European Defence Agency (EDA) Category B programme focused on improving the understanding of ship signatures and their interaction with multi influence naval mines, with the aim of assessing and reducing vessel vulnerability to this type of threat. It is framed within the EDA’s UMS (Unmanned Maritime Systems) programme, aimed at enhancing European capabilities in naval applications, primarily in Mine Countermeasures (MCM).

The first phase of the project was carried out between 2015 and 2018, with the participation of entities from seven European nations: Germany (CSSM, DMO), Spain (SAES), France (GESMA DGA), the Netherlands (TNO), Norway (FFI), Poland (PNA) and Sweden (FMV, SAAB, Kockums), and coordinated by the Dutch organisation TNO.

It focused on conducting measurement campaigns on merchant vessels and with calibrated sources in different operational scenarios, which enabled the compilation of an extensive multi influence database in relevant and realistic environments. Based on this database, a preliminary analysis of the different influences assessed (acoustic, electric, magnetic, pressure and seismic) was carried out, both individually and in terms of their correlation.

Fig. 1. Deployment of the MIRS system during calibrated source measurements in SIRAMIS I in the Port of Cartagena in 2013

The second phase of the SIRAMIS programme was conducted between 2018 and 2021, with the participation of entities from five nations: Germany (WTD 71, University of Duisburg), Spain (SAES), the Netherlands (TNO, DMO, MARIN), Norway (FFI) and Poland (Polish Naval Academy, PNA), coordinated by the Dutch organisation TNO.
It was developed on the basis of the results obtained in the first phase of the project (SIRAMIS I), including:

  • Definition of a common format for the storage of signature data.
  • Definition of improved calibration methods for signature measurements.
  • Development (or improvement) and evaluation of environmental effect models and signature prediction, including their propagation and attenuation.
  • Use of signatures recorded in SIRAMIS Phase 1 together with the developed or improved models to invert model parameters. Use of the inverted model parameters to determine grouping and scaling laws for ship classes/types.
  • Definition of common criteria and evaluation strategies (including required datasets) to enable the assessment of simulation models for signature prediction and evaluation available across different nations.
Fig. 2. Scope of Phases 1 and 2 of the SIRAMIS project

At present, the third phase of the SIRAMIS project is under preparation, focused on developing knowledge and technology to reduce mine risk for naval vessels, while maximising freedom of navigation through improved signature management and navigational decision support tools.