14th edition of the Bilateral Meeting between the Armed Forces of Thailand and Spain was held in Pattaya (Thailand) during first week of July.
Organized by the Directorate Joint of Logistics of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) and General Directorate of Armament and Material (DGAM) of the Spain Ministry of Defense, these bilateral meetings are a great opportunity to both Armed Forces to follow up their collaboration programs and strengthen their cooperation links.
On this occasion, the Joint of Logistics and DGAM selected a group of Spanish companies from the defense sector in order to make a presentation about the most relevant capabilities that the Spanish Defense Industry can provide to the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
At opening of the meeting, the Director of the Joint of Logistics, Admiral Korkian Pundee highlighted the positive results that the historical relationship between the Armed Forces of Thailand and Spain have provided to both countries, as well as his commitment to continue strengthening such cooperation for mutual benefit of both countries.
For his part, the Director General Directorate of Armament and Material (DiGAM), Admiral Santiago González Gómez drew attention to the commitment of Spain in the development of collaborative relationships among Armed Forces of both countries.
In his introduction of the Spanish companies invited to Bilateral Meeting, DiGAM Admiral Santiago Gonzalez spotlighted the international trend of the Spanish Defense Industry, setting as an example latter International Defense and Security Exhibition (FEINDEF) held in Madrid some months ago, which has been a real milestone in the internationalization of the Defense Industry of Spain. And more specifically, Spanish Defence Industry commitment to strengthen the collaboration relationship with the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
Selected spanish companies to participate in this meeting and present their defence capabilities to the Royal Thai Armed Forces were: AIRBUS, ARPA, ESCRIBANO, EVERIS, HISPANO VEMA, INDRA, ITP Aero and NAVANTIA.
During his presentation, the Director of Business Development of Hispano Vema, Mr. Rafael Arruga had the opportunity to review the main challenges in terms of management of CBRNe incidents for Emergency Agencies, Armed Forces and Hazmat Response Teams. Focusing on the management of the decontamination of Hazmat incidents caused by chemical, biological or radiological agents, both in military and civil scenario.
Armed Forces demand for new CBRN decontamination technologies to face the growing threats of CBRNe incidents, drives the Defense Industry to a continuous investment in innovation and new CBRN Decontamination systems, to ensure both the maximum effectiveness in the decontamination process and the minimum response time in any type of scenario and with any type of contamination agent.
In this context, the state-of-the-art of CBRN decontamination solutions focuses on more efficient systems for decontamination of people (both valid and ambulatory) and new technologies for the decontamination of electronic equipment (as part of critical infrastructure protection programs).
On the other hand, Rafael Arruga spotlighted the challenge of development of modular and flexible decontamination systems which provides maximum decontamination capabilities standardization (as a key for a minimum response time) and scalability and versatility in response capabilities to face a wide range of scenarios in which Hazmat incident could happens.
Armed Forces and Security and Emergency Agencies concern about that has drove development of CBRN Rapid Deployment systems more sophisticated, versatile and enlarged which provides enhanced decontamination capabilities with a minimum response time to manage as much as possible CBRNe incidents scenarios.
Finally, in addition to DiGAM Admiral Santiago González speech. We should highlight the speak and reflections from Deputy Director of International Relations of DGAM, General Felipe de la Plaza and Head of OFICAEX (Foreign Support Office) of DGAM, General Luis Lopez, who delved into Spanish Defense Industry international approach, and the need to face global defense challenges through innovation and new technologies in a very competitive market. As well as adapting their capabilities to global demands, and more specifically to Royal Thai Armed Forces capabilities needs.
