The General Atomics Europe Group (GA-Europe), headquartered in Dresden, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Shortly after German reunification, it was taken over as Spezialtechnik Dresden GmbH by the owner of the family-run US company General Atomics. Today, GA-Europe and its nine subsidiaries are an integrated technology group for aviation, infrastructure and sustainability.

"2022 is a very special year for us. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary, working on the further development of innovative business areas throughout our Group and have big plans for the aviation sector. 30 years ago, it was not foreseeable that we would achieve such dynamic development," says Harald Robl, Managing Director of General Atomics Europe, looking back.

The US entrepreneurial Blue family has family roots in Germany and began looking for interesting investment opportunities shortly after German reunification. The owners of General Atomics paid particular attention to companies that were highly specialized in various industries. With strategic investments and a long-term orientation, the Blue family demonstrated its sustained commitment to the development of the group of companies in Germany.

Largest company takeover to date in 2021

Since 1992, the group of companies has been growing continuously, strengthening itself in the areas of modernization, maintenance and vehicle construction of rail vehicles, battery recycling, especially in the field of electromobility, special construction services and environmental remediation, engineering precast reinforced concrete parts, demilitarization and disposal of conventional ammunition and explosives, environmental monitoring and water technology.

March 2021 sees GA-Europe's largest takeover to date. At the Bavarian special airport in Oberpfaffenhofen, General Atomics AeroTec Systems is now the new manufacturer of the Dornier 228 and also offers highly qualified maintenance and repair services for business jets and military helicopters.

Strong growth and investment in the future

Today, the group of companies has grown to over 1,200 employees. "And we need every single employee," says Harald Robl, "because we are continuing to invest heavily in our future! Without our employees, we would not have been able to achieve this successful development of our group of companies. I would therefore like to thank our entire workforce for their dedication and commitment," concludes Harald Robl.