Oviedo (EFE).- The company GDELS-Santa Bárbara Sistemas is seeking new contracts that will enable activity at the Trubia plant, in Oviedo, beyond 2025, since the contract for the production of the 8×8 wheeled combat vehicle (VCR 8×8) is not enough, as pointed out by the general secretary of this arms company, Ángel de Álvaro.
In statements to journalists after meeting with the Minister of Industry, Employment and Economic Promotion, Enrique Fernández, De Álvaro stressed that “many other things must be achieved” to maintain activity in this plant integrated into General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS ), since the contract for the combat vehicle for the Army is only part of the activity that allows the Asturian plant to continue producing.
In this regard, he has indicated that 85 percent of the turnover of the last four years has focused on exports of products, such as the contract for the Ajax armored vehicles, now called SV, with the British army and, whose activity It will last about two years, and also domestic production such as the Castor vehicles with the Ministry of Defense, which ends this year.
In this sense, the Asturian counselor stated that Trubia is a “reference” manufacturing center with close to 500 employees that stands out for the quality of its work and its competitiveness in the market, which gives it “great productive capacities to aspire to get new contracts.
Collaboration of the Principality
“This company will have the collaboration of the Principality to maintain economic activity and continue to drive the industrial sector in the region. It is a hub for generating activity and employment that we should be proud of in Asturias and that has our full support”, Fernández stressed.
In relation to the 2,000 million euros that the contract for the manufacture of 348 units of the VCR 8×8 vehicle provides in seven years, he has pointed out that his company corresponds to some 740 million euros of that figure, with a margin of 10 percent for the next seven years.
Fernández has indicated that the company has confirmed to him that this year it will carry out all the vehicle manufacturing and integration activity in Trubia after the internal reorganization of its manufacturing centers, which “will generate greater economic activity and employment” at the Oviedo plant.
In relation to the possibility that Trubia will be granted part of the tank business that Spain could send to Ukraine, the general secretary of the arms company has pointed out that his company “is always pending” what the Ministry of Defense decides, which is who should decide what is going to be done. EFE