· This training program is part of the National Digital Skills Plan of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, financed with European funds NextGenerationEU
· The signing of the interministerial agreement took place today in the Delegation of Defense in the Region of Murcia, where the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, María González Veracruz, has been decorated with the Great Cross of Military Merit in recognition of her contribution to the technological modernization of the Army
The Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and the Ministry of Defense have signed an agreement that will allow 1,903 members of the Armed Forces to be trained in digital skills, including troops and sailors, reservists of special availability and teachers of military educational centers.
The objective of the agreement is to provide military personnel with the necessary digital skills to face the challenges of defense in the 21st century, thus contributing to consolidate modern armed forces aligned with the demands of the citizenry. To this end, the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service will transfer 6 million euros to the Ministry of Defense, which will be responsible for launching a Digital Skills Training Program.
The initiative is part of Investment 3 of Component 19 ‘National Digital Skills Plan’ of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, financed with European funds NextGenerationEU, and will contribute to the fulfilment of one of its objectives, which foresees the training of 300,000 people in digital skills for employment by June 2026.
The courses will be structured around the European Digital Competency Framework DigComp 2.2, covering five key areas: information and data search and management; communication and collaboration; digital content creation; security; and problem solving. Each training action will have a minimum duration of 150 hours and will be organized at different levels to adapt to the needs of military personnel.
In addition, the program will keep the contents up to date and will have the necessary teaching structure to ensure practical and employability-oriented training, paying special attention to the troops and sailors with temporary commitment in the Armed Forces.
With this measure, the Government reaffirms its commitment to digitization as a lever of competitiveness, social cohesion and national security, aligning defense with the strategic objectives of the Digital Spain Agenda 2026.
González Veracruz, decorated with the Great Cross of Military Merit
The signing of the interministerial agreement has taken place in the Delegation of Defense in the Region in Murcia after the act in which The Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, María González Veracruz, has been awarded the Great Cross of Military Merit with a white badge, in recognition of her commitment to the technological modernization of the Spanish Armed Forces. This distinction, which has been imposed by the Secretary of State for Defense, Amparo Valcarce, highlights her contribution, from the different responsibilities assumed in the Government of Spain, to facilitate the process of digital transformation of the Military, Emergency and Civil Protection Units.
After being forced into the band, González Veracruz thanked for the recognition, stressing that “public service, and they know that well in the Army, is the best way to serve Spain. The more than twenty projects that I have had the honor of launching together with the Ministry of Defense, both since my previous responsibility as Secretary of State for Telecommunications, and now as Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI, have been important for our armed forces to enter fully into the future. Ensuring secure, modern communications, and contributing to national security.”
For her part, Valcarce stressed that the granting of the Great Cross of Military Merit to María González Veracruz symbolizes the union between digital innovation and national defense, and recognized in it a public servant whose trajectory exemplifies how science, technology and politics, when put at the service of the common good, reinforce the values of security, freedom and progress that inspire our Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defense thus recognizes the initiatives promoted by González Veracruz both during his time as Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures (from October 2022 to September 2024), and in his current position as Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, within the framework of a broad program for the technological modernization of the Army promoted by the Government of Spain, which has mobilized more than 266 million euros through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
These investments are allowing the Armed Forces to have faster and safer 5G communications, in addition to strengthening connectivity in Defense reference centers, designing more sophisticated cybersecurity strategies or advancing programs in cybersecurity areas or in the application of artificial intelligence. There are more than twenty technological projects promoted by the departments led by González Veracruz in telecommunications, most of them developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense.
Among them are the UNICO Sectorial 5G program, Bases and Mobility and Intelligence, Broadband Satellite, Terrestrial and Submarine I3D Transport Network, Submarine Cables or Cybersecurity Joint Command of Cyberspace and CNI, which are providing avant-garde resources to the defense of the country in bodies such as the Land Army, the Air and Space Army, the Navy or the Military Emergency Unit.
