The General Director of Operations of Indra, Frank Torres, reported this Tuesday that the reform and adaptation works of the Barros workshop, in Langreo (Asturias), will start next November, with the aim of the industrial activity beginning around mid-2027. The company will allocate 10 million euros to the modernization of these facilities, an investment that it will fully assume.
Torres made this announcement at a press conference in Oviedo, where he was accompanied by the Counselor of Science, Industry, and Employment, Borja Sánchez, and by the President of the SRP and Executive Director of the Sekuens Agency, David González, after the signing of a preliminary agreement for the lease of the building.
The opening of this new factory, the second of Indra in the northern area, contemplates the generation of 100 direct jobs within a horizon of three years and will maintain close personnel coordination with the Gijón plant. In this regard, Torres highlighted the proximity between both locations, which will facilitate temporary or permanent relocations of employees between the two factories. "In fact, there are already employees in Gijón who are from Langreo," he pointed out.
Impact on employment and industrial network in Asturias
With the 100 new direct jobs expected in Langreo, Indra will exceed 400 people dedicated to the terrestrial vehicles business and will surpass 1,200 indirect jobs in the Asturian auxiliary industry, where it maintains collaboration agreements with more than 60 local companies.
Torres noted that, in total, the Indra workforce in the Principality currently hovers around 600 people, including professionals from the Defense division, the air traffic management area, and Minsait, its digital solutions subsidiary.
When questioned about the hiring timelines, the executive indicated that the company has already started the search for professionals. The selection process will cover engineering profiles and vocational training (FP) graduates, in addition to opening the door to direct hiring with SMEs and start-ups in the area. He also emphasized the existence of agreements with universities and technological centers in the community, which he defined as one of the "main reasons" for locating this new plant in Langreo.
Industrial plan and specialization of the Barros plant
The project is integrated into Indra's industrial footprint strategy, which aims to expand the total area of its production centers in Spain from the current 35,000 square meters to 155,000 square meters. This deployment is articulated in three corridors and a fourth additional hub: the Northern Corridor, specialized in land vehicles; the Central, focused on drones; the Southern, aimed at radars and C-UAS systems; and a core in Catalonia as a reference center for the space field, artificial intelligence, and automotive. "Within this Northern Corridor, Asturias plays a vital role," he highlighted.
As Torres has explained, the Barros facilities will be oriented towards the production of large structures, electronic warfare equipment, and integrated control systems over vehicle platforms. Among the programs assigned to this factory are the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Operations Center (COAS), various command, control, and communications developments for embedded portable systems that manage the complete operation, as well as the Deployable Electronic Warfare System (Sigedes).
Activity in Barros will be coordinated with the Gijón plant —specialized in tracked vehicles, such as the K9 artillery program and the 8x8— and with the As Pontes plant, oriented towards wheeled vehicles. The operations manager has emphasized that the group's strategic priority has been "speed" to respond to the committed programs.
Leasing of the warehouse and operation with Duro Felguera
The Minister of Science, Industry, and Employment, Borja Sánchez, and the president of the SRP and executive director of the Sekuens Agency, David González, have emphasized that the agreement signed this Tuesday allows "to continue advancing in parallel in the acquisition of the property." The document establishes the conditions for Indra to use an industrial warehouse of about 16,000 square meters and provides for a 25-year lease contract from the effective delivery of the facility.
"We have also reached an agreement on what the rent would be, which would be market price, a rent that we did not decide, but rather it was an independent appraiser who assessed what would be a reasonable and fair price for those twenty-five years of leasing," Sánchez explained.
González, for his part, has avoided specifying the exact amount of the rent "for a matter of respect and market confidentiality," although he has assured that the amount will be "absolutely aligned" with the prices currently paid by companies in the area. He added that the agreement includes an annual update linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and a minimum floor that guarantees the Regional Promotion Society (SRP) a stable income if the CPI registers a negative evolution.
In relation to the purchase of the asset from Duro Felguera, González has detailed that it is still necessary to obtain "the permission of creditors and partners and to release any burdens that asset may have with third parties." "Those are the two procedures that are being advanced," he emphasized. "We have set that month of November to complete all the procedures and for this project to already be a visible reality," concluded the Minister of Science.