Indra has announced the opening of a new plant to manufacture military vehicles in the municipality of As Pontes, in A Coruña. This initiative supports its industrial growth strategy and consolidates the northern corridor as one of Europe’s leading centres for land-based defence platforms.
The project involves an investment of around 18 million euros to fit out facilities located on a site covering more than 50,000 square metres, with almost 15,000 square metres of built space dedicated to industrial activities.
The new factory will create between 70 and 120 highly skilled direct jobs in Galicia. In addition to this, there will be further economic activity generated among supplier companies, ancillary services and the supply chain linked to production.
The As Pontes facilities will form part of the industrial network of Indra Land Vehicles, the division specialising in land platforms, alongside the plant opened last year in Gijón. With both centres operational, the industrial area will total 40,000 square metres. Furthermore, the company is seeking a third location in the northern corridor, which could increase capacity to 55,000 square metres.
The new complex will specialise in the integration of amphibious combat vehicles, bridge-laying vehicles and wheeled artillery systems for the Spanish Armed Forces. It will also feature infrastructure to carry out the integration, testing, validation and commissioning phases of these systems, including a test track that will help to streamline development and delivery.
Josep Maria Recasens, Chief Executive of the Indra Group – PHOTO/INDRA
The CEO of Indra Group, Josep María Recasens, emphasised that the aim of this project goes beyond simply increasing production capacity. The company is creating a new generation of factories that incorporate technologies such as automation, digitalisation and artificial intelligence right from the design stage. This aims to position them amongst the most competitive and efficient industrial facilities in Europe.
With this strategy, Indra aims to strengthen an industrial base that responds more quickly, with greater reliability and competitiveness, to the needs of its customers and to new defence programmes.
The company has accelerated its industrial expansion over the past year by establishing new production centres, in line with its objective of strengthening defence industry capabilities in Spain and Europe.
In the specific field of military vehicles, the combined capacity of the plants in the northern corridor will reach around 500 units per year. This figure will place the region amongst Europe’s leading industrial hubs dedicated to the manufacture of land platforms.
This initiative forms part of a broader industrial plan through which Indra hopes to significantly increase its presence across Spain, in line with the three strategic corridors defined by the Ministry of Defence in the Defence Industrial Strategy.
As part of this plan, the company intends to expand its production area from the current approximately 36,000 square metres to over 154,000 square metres. The initiative will involve an investment of over 200 million euros and create more than 1,000 direct industrial jobs, as well as around 1,400 roles in engineering and other highly skilled fields.