Congress defends Abrams tanks in face of Pentagon proposal to end production in Sterling Heights

Congress defends Abrams tanks in face of Pentagon proposal to end production in Sterling Heights
13 May 2011

The Army's modernization plan for combat vehicles calls for a halt in U.S. tank production for the first time since 1941. A military budget bill currently before Congress would end production from 2013 to 2017 while improvements in the nation's primary battle tank are designed.
The House members, led by Levin, a Democrat whose district includes the tank-production facilities of General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, called on McHugh to continue a minimal schedule of 72 new tanks per year — the current M1A2 SEP version — during that transition period.
"The tank industrial base is not a light switch that can just be switched on and off at will," said Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County. "Everyone needs to understand that it will take time and money to get this capability back if we let it go."
After the tank plant in Warren closed two decades ago, General Dynamics' specialty became upgrading tanks from the M1A1 category to the more advanced M1A2.
The tank retrofit program has been viewed as a cornerstone of Michigan's defense industrial base for 30 years.
The program run by General Dynamics has engaged with 224 Michigan suppliers and subcontractors who received a total of $187 million in Abrams work.
Though the final assembly of the tanks is handled at the General Dynamics plant in Lima, Ohio, Michigan has far more at stake in the Pentagon decision than any other state.
The potential production shutdown comes just as Macomb County officials are trying to attract new companies to Macomb by portraying the county as the defense capital of the Midwest. Two-thirds of the defense contracts landed by Michigan firms are based in Macomb County.
"Allowing the Abrams production capability to decay will inhibit the nation's ability to maintain the most modern fighting force in the world and to support the combat vehicle programs of our international allies," said spokesman Pete Keating of General Dynamics, adding that a halt in production will jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs that support the Army's future tank program and more than 560 businesses across the country. (Source: Daily Tribune)


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