“Wir als Familienunternehmen haben gesagt, wir diskutieren nicht so lange, sondern wir machen mal was und bieten dann künftig unseren Kunden hier unmittelbar hochwertige Leistung,” said Harald Robl, CEO of General Atomics Europe GmbH.
General Atomics broke ground on a new 50 million euro facility in Nordholz on a sandy field near the German Navy aviation command, marineforum.online reported. The investment aims to supply and service the German military directly from the district of Cuxhaven. The US-based firm, which operates in sectors including defense, aerospace, nuclear energy, and research, is building the site to establish itself as a direct provider for the German Navy.
The family-owned tech firm, headquartered in San Diego, California, operates globally with approximately 12,500 employees. Its European subsidiary, General Atomics Europe GmbH, maintains its headquarters in Dresden and employs about 1,000 workers in Germany.
The new complex in Nordholz and Wanhöden will house storage and maintenance hangars alongside training and conference rooms. Construction will proceed in multiple stages, beginning with support for Dornier DO 228 aircraft operated by the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, followed by NH90 helicopters. The facility’s proximity to the airfield will allow aircraft to be towed directly into the maintenance hangars.
State Premier of Lower Saxony Olaf Liess attended the ceremony to mark the start of construction alongside roughly 50 guests. The project is expected to create over 100 high-tech jobs by its final completion stage, depending on customer demands over the next two years.
“Wir brauchen Sicherheit. Ohne Sicherheit ist alles nichts und die haben wir nur, wenn wir auch in unsere Bundeswehr ausreichend und vor allem nachhaltig investieren,” Liess said during the reception, according to marineforum.online.
He expressed gratitude to those who facilitated the rapid approval process.
Company executives described the investment as an entrepreneurial advance payment designed to create immediate facts rather than rely on conditional planning. The site sits on roughly 40,000 square meters of land with direct access to the airfield.
Operations at the new location will run through General Atomics AeroTec Systems GmbH in cooperation with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. GA-ATS manufactures the Do228 NXT and holds certification to maintain Airbus NH90 transport helicopters.
Flottillenadmiral Broder Nielsen, commander of naval aviation, welcomed the project for its potential to shrink maintenance routes. Helicopters currently require flights of five hours to reach repair facilities in southern Germany.
“Momentan ist es noch so, dass wir unsere Hubschrauber zur Instandsetzung nach Süddeutschland fliegen, das sind alleine 5 Flugstunden, die wir verbrauchen,” Nielsen said, as marineforum.online reported. He added that the spatial proximity will help increase operational readiness more quickly through industrial backing. Die räumliche Nähe wird einen Beitrag dazu leisten,” Nielsen said.
While discussions touched on whether the German Navy might eventually acquire MQ-9B drones from General Atomics, officials confirmed that drone integration is not part of the current expansion phase. Construction timelines and initial facility operations depend heavily on upcoming service agreements with the Bundeswehr.
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