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Two Johnstown defense plants have received more than $55 million in new contracts, helping maintain jobs and launch expansion projects at both facilities.
Kongsberg Protech Systems U.S.A. Corp. of Richland Township and its sister company, Kongsberg Integrated Tactical Systems Inc. of Bellport, N.Y., were awarded two contracts totaling $17.3 million, plant general manager Greg Platt announced Tuesday.
Work includes manufacture of electronic components and support for one class of the Army’s Stryker vehicles and for the M119A2, 105-millimeter towed howitzer.
Continued growth will allow Kongsberg to begin an expansion within the building it leases at 210 Industrial Park Drive, Platt said.
“We have just signed an agreement to expand our factory by an additional 34,000 square feet in order to accommodate these new programs,” Platt said.
He spoke during a news conference at Holiday Inn–Downtown in Johnstown.
A five-year extension of a contract to make troop-transport seats for the Army’s UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters also was announced Tuesday.
That will allow Martin-Baker America to move forward with a 17,000-square-foot expansion at its plant at 423 Walters Ave. in Stonycreek Township, plant manager Mike Santoro said.
Work on the $40.5 million contract with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will be performed in Johnstown, Santoro said.
Both buildings are owned by East Hills Commons LLC, a partnership headed by Johnstown contractors James Vasilko and Louis Mihalko.
Vasilko said both expansion projects are to begin by fall, pending final lease agreements.
Plans for an addition at the Martin-Baker plant have been in the works for several years, Vasilko said.
“We had talked about it before, and it kind of stalled out,” he said. “Now I guess they are ready to go again.”
“We need more space just to do the work we are doing right now,” Santoro said. “We are stacked on top of each other.”
The addition at the former Skateland building would create space for manufacturing and for storage of finished products, he said.
Construction will be minimal at Kongsberg’s plant, located in a former Bestform garment facility at Johnstown Industrial Park.
“They will be moving into some adjacent space in the same building,” Vasilko said.
Kongsberg employs about 185 people, and Martin-Baker has about 125 workers.
Tuesday’s news conference was hosted by Johnstown Area Regional Industries and its Defense Business Council.
“The way I translate that is: Lots of retention of jobs,” JARI Chief Executive Officer Linda Thomson said after the contract announcements.
“It is a wonderful announcement for us in today’s economy.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, said the announcements illustrate the local defense industry’s strength.
“This is really all levels of government working together and working with JARI,” Critz said.
“This defense sector business is not just a Showcase for Commerce event.”
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