The Right Honourable Cheryl Gillan MP, Secretary of State for Wales, invited Lord Stephen Green, the new Minister of State for Trade and Investment, to visit Wales-based defence and security company General Dynamics UK recently.
Gillan was particularly keen to showcase the EDGEr UK facility in Newbridge, South Wales, where General Dynamics UK helps Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) develop new technology and bring it to the attention of customers such as the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Lord Green toured the facility with. Gillan to see its numerous labs and meet a representative of Rolatube, one of the many SMEs that work with General Dynamics UK.
The Secretary of State for Wales and the Trade Minister witnessed the work that General Dynamics UK is doing to develop new technologies for both its U.K. and international customers. They learnt how General Dynamics UK, as an anchor company for Wales, has brought more than 850 high-value jobs to this area of South Wales in the last 10 years and is still growing. They also had some hands-on experience with the technologies that will eventually become British Forces equipment, such as General Dynamics UK’s innovative Core Infrastructure Distribution System (CIDS) and electronic architecture for armored vehicles, which replaces bulky, heavy cabling with lighter, space-saving pressed-copper bus bars to deliver higher levels of data and power.
“General Dynamics UK is a jewel in the Valleys of South Wales, bringing more and more valuable jobs to the area as its continues to grow,” Gillan said. “As a supplier of key capabilities such as Bowman and the new Specialist Vehicle including Scout to the MoD as well as to customers around the world, General Dynamics UK is a hub for highly skilled jobs.
After the visit, Lord Green said: “I was very impressed to see the important work that General Dynamics UK is doing at the EDGEr UK. To know that this kind of work is happening in such places as the Welsh valleys reassures me that British businesses are continuing to innovate in order to satisfy their customers at home and abroad.”
Mark Douglas, vice president of General Dynamics UK, said: “We were delighted to be chosen as the first defence and security company to host Lord Green,” said “I believe that he saw the added value a facility like the EDGEr UK can bring to SMEs in particular and the defence industry as a whole.”
Lord Green was appointed as Minister of State for Trade and Investment by the Prime Minister David Cameron in September 2010. He will help to lead the Government’s efforts to establish the United Kingdom as the most attractive location for international business investment and to drive growth in U.K. exports.