Within the government They are starting to be desperate. Its star project, the 8×8 dragon armored vehicle, the most important investment in the history of the Army, has become a failure of unpredictable consequences, especially for the defense of … Spanish soldiers in international missions with different degrees of danger. After spent 1,208 million euros, five years of unjustified delays, presentations to media and promises to go into production immediately, as ABC reported on Monday, the Ministry of Defense has focused the shot and, with the collusion of Moncloa, has convinced the president of Indra, Angel Escribano, to seek the solution of the viability of the 8×8 in the purchase of Santa Barbara, Spanish subsidiary of the American General Dynamicstwo decades of public capital.
The notary himself recognized last Thursday during his appearance at the Congress Security Commission to explain his future plans for Indra, which ambitions the assets of Santa BarbarA, to quadruple the size in the next three or four years. He even specified that he not only wanted the assets, he said that even the technology that has been developed «must stay in Spain».
Precisely, as ABC has learned from sources close to the Santa Barbara matrix, if General Dynamics still puts difficult things in Spain, and they are excessively pressed, it is feasible that they decide to sell and leave, but that is considered by experts in the sector as of «Authentic catastrophe». The sources explain that Santa Barbara could continue to function as such, although his shareholder would vary. The owner would be Indra instead of General Dynamics, yes, «but what in no case would stay in Santa Barbara They are the licenses of its products, nor the headquarters, where all its ‘know how’ would be taken; although, they could detach themselves from workers and machinery ».
At present, the Fuentes, General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) – the European Division of the American and from which the Spanish subsidiary – manufactured in Trubia (Asturias) and in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) and in a huge amount of armored for other European countries. In fact, he has sold about 500 to the United Kingdom, has just closed a contract of almost a thousand for Germany and 400 for Romania. «If they are forced to leave Spain, those vehicles that They would give a huge workload for Asturias and Sevillewould leave Spain, ”said the sources.
They add that to date, the truth is that Indra has not made a single land combat vehicle and, no matter how much Santa Barbara buys, without Gdels’ patents and licenses, it will not make a single armored one. «The test is in 8×8. The only thing that works without problems of that vehicle is precisely the barge, What does Gdels do». General Dynamics, which in 2011 put the headquarters of its European land division in Madrid, in Hortaleza, changing it from Switzerland, “would leave Spain for sure without problems.” Gdels has sub -spare schools in Switzerland, Germany, Romania, Austria, Denmark and Czech Republic, so “they would not have the slightest difficulty in leaving Spain and set its European headquarters in another of the sites where they are already».
In any case, in the hypothetical case of successfully carried out the operation with Santa Barbara, the recomposition of the sector desired since it has 14% indrafollowed by Sapa, with 8%.
And, as ABC has been able to know, the Executive considers that 8×8 is a fundamental program for the army and does not want to drop it despite the delays and extensions that it suffers, or leave it in foreign hands, especially now that it has been put to Indra in front of Tess Defense with 51% of the capital to lead the entire process in its final phase. The rest of the consortium is distributed equally between Santa Barbara, Sapa and Escribano. According to sources close to La Moncloa, one of the keys to the future national champion of the defense around Indra, will be to buy from Santa Barbara the Asturian plant of Trubia, which currently barely has activity, but which considers it suitable to turn it into the center where I assemble 8×8 and, perhaps, the new six -wheel model – known as the 6×6 – that is in the loan, and that could be manufactured even before.
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