VBR 8X8 Program
- A Spanish company, formed by gtd and Nexter Systems, with Spanish personnel, and technology transferred to Spain
- The VBCI assures the best ratio protection, mobility, functionality
- Long service life to low cost
- Industrial project with permanence vocation
- Technical office in Spain, that assures a Spanish intellectual property
- High reliability and low failure rate
- Bilateral agreements of R+D to develop technologies applicable to the vehicle
With the presence of Rafael Rodriguez, Executive Vice-president of gtd, and of Gerald Lefebvre, Director of International Matters for Europe of Nexter Systems, a meeting with the press has been celebrated in Madrid in which both directors have presented their alliance to respond to the RFI of the Spanish Ministry of Defence relative to program VBR 8X8.
Its industrial proposal is based on five pillars:
- Spanish industry maximum participation, including Technical Office in Spain
- Vehicle in production, with last generation technologies, ready for deployment on real operation scenarios
- Very high protection
- Complete flexibility of adaptation to the mission
- Long lifecycle at low cost
The project will be developed by a Spanish company, with Spanish personnel and facilities in Spain. The main capabilities of the technologist will be transferred to Spain: product engineering, engineering of manufacture, control of the supply chain, laboratory of systems integration, tests, centre of R+D+i, final integration, manufacture of the hull, etc.... to assure that the intellectual property remains in Spain, and the sustainability of the project.
The industrial project has long term aim, and arises to cover the existing deficit in Spain with a company specialized in armoured wheels vehicles. It is anticipated that the new company will be constituted after the summer, and that will give direct occupation to one hundred people in its more than 25,000 sqm of facilities. The direct employment will ascend to near 1,000 jobs. The company will be Spanish, it will pay taxes in Spain, and will be integrated by Spanish workers, including the top executives.
The industrial platform to be created by gtd and Nexter will give a great workload to the Spanish auxiliary industry, as much of the sector of the defence like of the one of automotion, with a great geographic distribution and high added value.
The main office and facilities of the new company will be based on Barcelona, and numerous essential components for the vehicle, like the hull or the weapon system, will be produced in other Regions, with an interesting distribution of the service load by all the national territory.
Conversations are staying, some very next to sign agreements, with numerous Spanish companies of different areas from activity, since the vehicle will count on about 2,000 components, grouped in 159 sets, provided by about 35 or 40 suppliers. Between these companies they are counted: EADS Defence and Security, Aernnova, Duro Felguera, GMV, Tecnobit, Oto Melara Iberica or Grupo TAM.
The vehicle proposed to program VBR 8x8 of the Spanish Ministry of Defence, the VBCI, is proven, in manufacture, and on the way to unfolding in air side of interest for Spain. It has a high reliability and a low failure rate, and counts on the experience of a technologist who has offered successful solutions, that are operative at the present time.
The main strengths of the VBCI are their modern and modular design, based on edge technology, that allows it to offer the best ratio between Protection/ Mobility/Modularity. The VBCI is a vehicle in production, and counting on the most modern technologies, and therefore is able to offer a long lifecycle, as this type of platforms demand. To it is added its high level of protection maintaining mobility, one of highest in the market. It is designed to guarantee a high availability, thanks to a low failure rate, a simple maintenance, and an innovating ILS.
Additionally, other potential markets could be covered, and other product ranges could be implemented, complementing the 8x8 vehicles on the same industrial scheme. The executives consider that, excepting traditionally closed areas, like USA, the world-wide market could assure, at the present time, viability to the company for next the 50 or 60 years.
The bet by the innovation is translated in bilateral agreements of R+D to develop the key technologies for wheeled armoured vehicles of the future (new shields, hybrid vehicles...).
The VBCI began to be delivered to the French Army in the middle of the 2008, and at the present time 100 vehicles have been received, and the totality of the contract will be delivered according to the decided calendar.
Company Center: GTD Ingenieria de Sistemas y de Software
