Milrem LCM opens a new tank hall at Tapa
23.5.2019
Milrem LCM OÜ opens its third workshop in Estonia, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Defense Forces at Tapa. Defense Force is Milrem’s main co-operation partner at Tapa. The opening ceremony of the hall took place on 22.05.2019, the works will start in the workshop from June 2019.
The workshop allows repair and maintenance work on the entire Defense Forces’ wheel and armor technology. The size of the hall is 576 m2 and has six of the vehicle’s workstations, and 4 people are already working there. The workshop is built to meet the requirements of the infantry combat machine CV-9035. Milrem owns 5.8 hectares of land in Tapa, which allows the workshop to be grown quickly if necessary.
“Enlargement to Tapa is a milestone for Milrem LCM,” said Jukka Holkeri, chairman of the Milrem LCM Council. “It is part of Milrem’s strategy to be as close as possible to the main customer, the Defense Forces, and to ensure good working conditions for the implementation of the agreements.”
“For Milrem, opening a new workshop is a logical continuation of the current development,” said Ingvar Pärnamäe, Chairman of the Board of Milrem LCM. “The company is growing and expanding its fields of activity, making it a matter of time when the existing workshops will be too small for our everyday work.”
Ingvar Pärnamäe referred to armaments as a new area of activity. Last week, a lawsuit ended for the acquisition of new automatic firearms by the Estonian Defense Forces, where Milrem LCM is an Estonian partner for the winning US arms manufacturer Lewis Machine & Tools. “Until now, Milrem LCM was mainly engaged in military vehicles, it is evident that the entry to the firearms business, will also require new infrastructure, and Tapa’s new workshop will play an important role in building firearms maintenance and repair capabilities,” said Pärnamäe.
Riho Tell, Mayor of Tapa, welcomed the arrival of a new and ambitious company in the parish of Tapa. “Of course, the coming of Milrem LCM-like companies will help to revitalize the rural economy and promote the general well-being of the parish,” said Tell. “Hopefully this is just the beginning of the development of the defense industry in Tapa, because there are many opportunities here for the Defense Forces and also for the Allied forces. For its part, the parish of Tapa is planning to fully support the development of entrepreneurship, ”said the governer of Tapa parish.