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STARLAB’s philosophy that is most intriguing. A similar kind of ingenuity using
commercial satellite imagery worried US planners when they ordered a massive buy to
clear the market before attacking Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. STARLAB’s
approach is akin to supply chain management, used to great effect by Spain’s own
defense industry. Just as value added in the right subsystem can bring disproportionate
influence over the entire production chain, adding human capital to extant infrastructure
can create a whole new process for supplying information.
The Spanish Government, not just the autonomous communities, does recognize
this. Back in Madrid, the national government has set aside space at the Torrejon
Airbase, once shared with Americans, to house the European Union Satellite Center.
Within that center, a small group, again with international credentials, recombines
commercial satellite information with other databases to produce intelligence products for
EU executive committees in Brussels working on the initiative for a Common Foreign
and Security Policy (CFSP).
In its approach toward innovation, the EU Satellite Center works around start-up
costs in much the same fashion as STARLAB. The Spanish Government embraces the
Satellite Center in part because connections through the European Union have been
advantageous for magnifying the potential of Spain’s resources and improving its
technological capacity. Given its limited size, Spain could use other opportunities to spur
defense innovation. While regional governments are promoting small-scale enterprises
that feature scientist-entrepreneurs, the underdeveloped network between regional
commercial clusters throughout Spain and the defense establishment around Madrid
Convention