At least 240 Latvian companies make military or dual-use goods as a rural plant casts dragon's teeth

At least 240 companies in Latvia now make military or dual-use goods, the television news programme 360TV Ziņas reported. Demand for security products is growing, and defence orders are becoming an important source of work for businesses outside the capital.

Ten thousand dragon's teeth

One of them is Salenieku bloks, a concrete products plant in Sērene in the Aizkraukle region. Alongside paving stones and kerbs, it has spent three years making anti-vehicle obstacles, known as dragon's teeth, under state contracts, and more than 10,000 have already been delivered to the eastern border. Filming is banned in the hangar where they are made for security reasons.

Unlike the plant's everyday products, which are mostly made by automated machines, the dragon's teeth are made by hand. Each one weighs more than 1.5 tonnes, and a concrete block more than two tonnes. “There are specially made metal moulds with reinforcement inside, holding a special pipe in place. The dragon's teeth are laid in three rows and then tied together through those holes so that an enemy cannot easily push them aside,” said Jānis Skroderis, the company's chairman.

Jobs for the region

The new line of work has almost doubled the number of people employed at the Sērene plant. Besides the border, the company supplies concrete obstacles to the Ādaži training area, the Latvian armed forces' air base at Lielvārde and the Sēlija training area.

“I consider myself a Latvian patriot, and I am glad we can make products of good enough quality to help strengthen the eastern border,” Skroderis said.