WINDBER — For 12 years, defense industry giant Raytheon Co. has served as mentor to its protégé – Kuchera Defense Systems – as part of a Department of Defense program.
On Wednesday, the two companies announced that relationship will continue for at least 10 more years, thanks to a new contract projected to be worth $100 million.
Under terms of the deal, Kuchera will procure materials for, assemble and test the telemetry unit of Raytheon’s Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, AMRAAM.
During flight tests, the telemetry unit is loaded instead of warheads. It provides range tracking, flight-termination functions, critical-range safety functions and other data tracking.
The AMRAAM is produced by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., and is the premier missile of the U.S. arsenal.
Kuchera will add nearly 40 workers in engineering, manufacturing and project management to its staff of 225.
The company already has hired a handful of workers, said Carl Sax, executive vice president and general manager of Kuchera.
He said those workers will begin next week, and he expects to hire the full complement during the next eight months to prepare for full production in the fourth quarter of 2008.
“It’s a new product line for us,” Sax said. “It’s a complete transition, meaning we will do all material procurement, all assembly, all testing. And then we will ship them back to Raytheon.
“This deal is going to require us to grow and add new areas of knowledge and specialization.”
Raytheon officials said they chose Kuchera because of the Windber company’s strong track record as a quality supplier. James Knox, AMRAAM program director, said Raytheon believes it will benefit from Kuchera widening its capabilities.
“Our hope is that this will aid them in expanding and growing their capabilities. It will allow us to come back to them as a supplier on even more projects,” Knox said.
“They are a great supplier. We know we can rely on them and trust them, which is not something you can say for everyone.”
U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, commended Kuchera employees for delivering quality products to the military on time and on budget. But he said the level of quality in their products is what make the difference for the war fighter overseas.
“You folks have been absolutely essential to our national defense,” Murtha said.
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