The Board of Directors of SAES has agreed to appoint Joaquín López Pagán as the new CEO of the company at the meeting held on 5 October. Born in 1976, he has a Law Degree and a master’s degree in Business Legal Advice. He has been a member of a Spanish Region parliament and Senator of the Senate of Spain.

He succeeds Sofía Honrubia, the president from June, and who continues as Commercial and Business Development Director of Navantia, SA, SME (Navantia). From this position, she will continue to promote collaboration between both companies as usual.

SAES is part of the state business public sector. It is attached to the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations through the commercial, also public, SAES CAPITAL, S.A., S.M.E., and through Navantia, all of them belonging to and included in the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) Group. SAES CAPITAL owns 51% of the shares and the remaining 49% belongs to the French company THALES DMS FRANCE SAS.

SAES, specialists in underwater acoustics and electronics, has been the benchmark company in Spain for sonar technology and antisubmarine warfare for more than 30 years. Some of its products can be applied to the civil market in the areas of security and underwater measurement for environmental surveillance.

The company, which has participated in the most important Spanish naval programmes of submarines, minehunters, frigates, among other platforms, also has a marked international character, exporting to different countries such as France, US, Sweden, Chile, Colombia, and Kazakhstan.

SAES has recently obtained important contracts with Navantia and Thales in relation to the F-110 programme, for which it contributes the acoustic processing of sonobuoys to the frigate and will undertake the manufacture, installation, and testing of the Thales cylindrical BMAS sonar, as well as its integration into the sonar suite, among other works. In addition, the company will participate in supporting the life cycle of the S-80 submarine and F-110 frigates. With these contracts, the company strengthens its position in the defence sector as a leading company in ASW technology.