Company Vice-president Isidro López Magdaleno and Managing Director Martín Salgado Devincenzi took part in this debate forum on the military base

The Cordoba City Council, Regional Government of Andalusia, CECO and the Army set out the keys with Magtel of what this project will represent

Magtel Vice-president Isidro López Magdaleno and Magtel Managing Director Martín Salgado Devincenzi, participated in the Editorial Roundtable at El Día de Córdoba (Joly Group) on the Logistics Base, which organised this top-level gathering with collaboration from the company.

The keys have been set out on the change that will be led by military logistics from Cordoba. The importance of the project by the Logistics Base of the Spanish Army (BLET) has been highlighted, not only for the province, but for all of Andalusia, emphasising the importance of business alliances and digital talent for its development. The Logistics Base complex will be located in La Rinconada technology park, and there are plans for it to be operational at the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.

At this editorial roundtable, moderated by the advisor on Digital Transformation of the Joly Group, Magdalena Trillo, as well as López Magdaleno and Salgado Devincenzi, were the director of Integration of Logistics Functions for the Army, José Manuel Vivas; Cordoba Mayor José María Bellido; the rector of the University of Cordoba, José Carlos Gómez Villamandos; the representative of the Andalusia Regional Government in Cordoba, Antonio Repullo; and the president of the Businesspersons’ Confederation of Cordoba (CECO), Antonio Díaz.

The managing director of Magtel pointed out that the company already held the certification required to work with the Ministry of Defence, which placed it ‘in a preferential position to provide value and lead a project that will give the business fabric a leap forward in quality’, not only for the BLET in itself, but for the auxiliary companies it will attract.

For his part, Magtel Vice-president Isidro López Magdaleno stressed that although it was a project that would be a ‘tractor’ in and of itself, he also pointed out the importance of the government’s commitment to the central Atlantic Railway Corridor that will link the Port of Algeciras with the rest of Europe. He added that: ‘there will be a base in Cordoba that will be strengthened,’ enabling the Spanish Army to take advantage of these transport routes.

The director of Integration of Logistics Functions for the Army stated that ‘it’s not only about bringing together 12 centres into one, but also the technology the complex will have that will engender a logistics revolution that will be predictive and not preventive.’ The change process is based on four mainstays: infrastructures with efficient, friendly and quality buildings; civil servants ‘seeking digital talent’; emerging and predictive technology (virtual reality, Big Data, artificial intelligence…) and information and communication systems like 5G and 5G Plus, ‘which are fundamental’.

The Magtel vice-president pointed out that ‘much training’ will be needed, both among businesspeople and among future BLET civil servants, who ‘must be prepared’. He also advanced that JVs and consortiums will be needed for the companies due to the volume of work on the way.

Salgado made it clear that Magtel wants to be ‘in a project that will represent a leap forward in quality for the business fabric.’ He said that having training ‘in engineering, tech, communications… involving digital skills will be differential’, a factor that ‘gives youth a tremendous opportunity, who can adapt better to this knowledge’.  With regard to the University of Cordoba, it achieved positioning on the institutional plane that the university already conquered in the field of research and innovation to shape a ‘military-civil industrial duo’, as the rector added.

During his talk, the mayor of Cordoba said that the timelines are being met to shape ‘this smart city’, which will entail a notable ‘change in paradigm in the Spanish Army’s technology’. At a local level, he claimed the project will make Cordoba ‘benefit from a huge number of opportunities’, especially in economic, business and job matters, offering a large number of contracts that will remain in Andalusia.

He also drew attention to the management implemented between the different administrations and the need to drive forward public-private partnerships to contribute to an environment that technology and innovation can use as a backdrop.

One of the roundtable’s conclusions was that the Army Logistics Base is the present and the future, not only of Cordoba, but also of Andalusia, from where military logistics will start to be developed in upcoming years. In this respect, Bellido confirmed that ‘it is an extremely important project and a driver of transforming the economy’, asking for the ‘union between all agents to continue so that – whoever is governing – it moves forward’ because of ‘the important growth opportunity, as Rector José Carlos Gómez Villamandos pointed out, before adding that the economic return the BLET could generate may be around triple the investment, which is 350 million euros.

The representative of the Andalusia Regional Government in Cordoba, Antonio Repullo, stressed that the project had a ‘collaborative and Andalusian character’ that starts ‘from Cordoba to emanate outward to the rest of the region’, although the starting position of the central offices must be to service so that the businesses of Cordoba ‘are skilful and proficient and gain in ranking’. Defence and the Army are involved so that there is involvement from the local and Andalusian business sector, although it will definitely need to go hand-in-hand with other companies that may be from outside’, added the mayor of Cordoba.

Information published in El Día de Córdoba