Newsroom
- Defense
10 Jun 2022
Exail opens its Mine Counter Measures factory in Ostend, Belgium
This new facility will further strengthen ties with the Belgium and Dutch navies, the Naval Academy (with a.o. Naval Mine Warfare NATO Centre of Excellence), local industries and academic players in Belgium. Exail will partner with local companies and will contribute to the development of local skills and industrial capabilities.
The Exail Ostend factory has a direct access to the waterfront. The drones will be sea tested and customers will be able to see them evolve directly under normal conditions of use.
The support received from the city of Ostend, the Port of Ostend, the Flemish government and Belgium Defence has been exemplary and helped the timely construction of this new facility. This represents a multimillion euros investment of Exail and its shareholder Groupe Gorgé.
The employment area of Ostend is particularly attractive. In the short term, 25 positions are being created and the team will grow to 50 people in the coming years. The entire team is proud to have met the initial deadlines, despite the COVID crisis: the factory was delivered last January and the move started in February. The production of the drones will start in September and the first complete toolbox will be delivered to the Belgian Navy in 2024.
"Innovation is not only a lever for economic growth and employment, but it also offers solutions. In this case it keeps navy personnel as far away from danger as possible. I am pleased that Exail has chosen Flanders to further flourish their expertise in robots and drones. West-Flanders will definitely benefit from this new factory as new jobs will be created, and closer ties with Flemish companies and academic players will be forged. "
"These new premises illustrate both Exail's strong desire to establish itself in Belgium over the long term They represent a substantial investment of more than €10 million, which would not have been possible without the significant support of the Flemish Region."
"We are very pleased with the architecture of the building by A1AR, and the delivery of the project in time, in scope and in budget by Willy Naessens Group. Our focus now shifts to the ramping up of production later this year, and towards the recruitment of many new team members as we are looking for workers, technicians, administrative people and engineers."
