Analysis of Spain's National Maritime Security Strategy

Key Chapter Title List

1. Spain's "Strategic" Geography
2. Strategic Lines of Action
3. Protecting Spain's Maritime and Sea-based Ocean Interests
4. Strengthening Spain's Maritime Capacity
5. Enhancing Maritime Security
6. Key Takeaways from Spain's NSMS 2024
7. The Spain-India Maritime Interface
8. Joint Maritime Activities between Spain and India
9. Substantive Areas of Maritime Cooperation
10. Conclusion

Document Introduction

As a dual member of the EU and NATO and a historic maritime power, Spain released the revised "National Maritime Security Strategy" (NSMS 2024) in March 2024, marking a strategic upgrade in its role in global maritime security governance. This report aims to systematically outline the core content of this strategy, providing policymakers and researchers with a panoramic view of Spain's maritime security interests and objectives, and laying the groundwork for exploring the potential for maritime security cooperation between India and Spain.

The report begins by examining Spain's unique geographical position, analyzing its strategic advantages as a junction point between the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic, a connector between Europe and Africa, and the security responsibilities and challenges arising from its Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines and overseas territories. On this basis, it clarifies Spain's definition of maritime security as "a combination of preventive and responsive measures to protect the maritime environment from threats and illegal acts, and to limit the impact of disasters and accidents."

The strategy's core framework revolves around three main objectives: protecting national maritime interests, enhancing maritime capacity, and strengthening maritime security. To achieve these goals, Spain has planned seven specific actions covering key areas such as maritime surveillance, infrastructure protection, maritime boundary delimitation, underwater cultural heritage protection, fisheries management, marine spatial planning, and information-sharing mechanism development. In terms of capacity building, the focus is on integrating cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and smart sensors, modernizing shipyards and fleets, participating in EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects, and enhancing the security of critical infrastructure such as shipping terminals.

The report highlights the strategy's "holistic approach," whose innovation lies in incorporating "Sustainable Development Goal 14" (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources) into the national security framework, establishing a linkage mechanism between the blue economy and security interests, and emphasizing the use of multilateral frameworks like the EU and NATO to address complex challenges such as transnational crime, hybrid threats, and climate change. Simultaneously, the report points out Spain's strategic extension into the Indo-Pacific region and its maritime presence in hotspot areas like the Gulf of Guinea and the Red Sea, reflecting a strategic reorientation among EU maritime nations.

As a core highlight, the report details the foundation for maritime security cooperation between Spain and India, including their collaboration within frameworks such as the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), as well as multiple joint military exercises between 2019 and 2023. Regarding substantive areas of cooperation, it focuses on analyzing potential directions such as defense technology transfer, submarine and Landing Platform Dock (LPD) manufacturing, and seabed infrastructure development. In particular, it examines cooperation opportunities within the Airbus C-295 transport aircraft project and India's "Project-75" submarine procurement program, providing concrete pathways for deepening the strategic defense partnership between the two countries.