General Dynamics, Officials Celebrate Ship Contract
 Gov. Deval Patrick, left, Michael Tweed-Kent, vice pesident of mission integration systems, and Mayor James Ruberto chat before the event. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — General Dynamic's landing of a Navy contract could launch the region into a nexus for high-tech development.
That's the hope of local and state officials who descended on the Plastics Avenue plant Monday to celebrate the company's part in developing the next generation of close-shore combat ship. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, instrumental in obtaining the language that split the contract into two teams, thus ensuring General Dynamics' involvement, was joined by Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor James M. Ruberto in lauding its benefits to the city and the nation as a whole.
"The country as a whole is lifted up by this, this improves our global competitiveness," said Kerry afterward. "We're not just operating in a narrow market anymore, what happens here is good and can have an impact on choices of China or India or allies in Europe. [They] may find they want to share in some of the these systems or the expertise that comes out of them ... so in the end this is the win-win for everyone."
The state's senior senator said the project is directly in line with President Obama's call last Friday "to build stuff and invent stuff."
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, in partnership with shipbuilder Austal Ltd., was awarded a contract to develop the integrated combat systems for up to 10 Independence-class littoral combat ships over the next five years; the contract for the initial ship is $432 million. A second team headed by Lockheed Martin is building a matching number of Freedom-class ships. The contract, which could be extended as the Navy plans a total of 55 ships, will bring at least 500 jobs, mostly in engineering, to the city.
"I'm ready for my buttons to burst today," said Ruberto. "Just think of 500 jobs ... It's got to be a catalyst for 500 more jobs plus, that's what the economists always tell us ... it's got to be good news for every business in the city of Pittsfield and the county of Berkshire."
It also pointed to a coordinated effort across the spectrum, said Patrick, to ensure Pittsfield wasn't left out. "We pulled together across federal, state and local government," he said. "Business leaders here were all on the phone and it was very coordinated and paid off."
 Right, a cake baked in the shape of an LCS. Below, current and veteran military personnel stand to be recognized for their service. |
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Michael Tweed-Kent, vice president and general manager of the mission integration systems division, told the 1,000 invited employees and guests for a celebratory luncheon that the contract was "a grand slam." First, the Navy needs more ships and this will be good for taxpayers because they'll get more ships for less money, he said.
"It's good for us at General Dynamics: It catapults us into a leadership role in the surface navy integration market," Tweed-Kent continued. "...it's a home run for our city ... the resulting jobs and positive economic impact to our region will be tremendous."
The company has already begun recruiting for the project and expects to add 200 positions this year. The first job fair was held earlier this month and 28 people have been hired. Ruberto described the coming influx as "consumers who are earning a good, good wage with benefits, and who are bringing with them an interest in the community that will far, far lead us into the coming years."
The project has been 10 years in the making and will create a flexible, integrated control platform that will allow the ships to adapt over time for as-yet-undetermined missions. Lou Von Thaer, president of GD AIS, said the LCS, similar to a corvette, would be able to fight pirates and offer essential aid in disasters.
Kerry, a Navy veteran of Vietnam, said the LCS will have "a breadth of capacity for the kinds of threats we are going to be facing in the future."
While the ships' importance to the nation's defense was lauded, including by the USS Independence's first captain, Cmdr. Michael B. Riley, their significance to landlocked Berkshire County can't be understated. Pittsfield and the county have seen thousands of jobs disappear along with GE and Sprague Electric. Too often, it's seen companies come in touting big jobs — only to have those hopes dashed. It's no wonder Patrick's Pub allowed the TVs to be switched from ESPN to C-SPAN that December day the Senate voted on the funding; it was proof something really was going to happen.
"We expect to bring hundreds of new jobs in here to Pittsfield, more to Alabama [an estimated 1,800] and other places across the country," said Thaer. "And we expect to continue to celebrate the innovation and forward-looking concepts we've developed here."
Tags: employment, General Dynamics, government contracts,
