Pentagon calls for 3-year shutdown of Abrams production by General Dynamics

Pentagon calls for 3-year shutdown of Abrams production by General Dynamics
25 May 2011

It seems like old times. Old times — but not good times.
Once again, defense contractor General Dynamics and dozens of area industrial suppliers are trying to convince Congress not to pull

the plug on the U.S. Army’s Abrams tank program. At a town hall meeting on Friday held at a Roseville factory, the suppliers pleaded

with U.S. Rep. Sander Levin to convince more members of Congress that a three-year shutdown proposed by the Pentagon would be

disastrous.
“Sure, this affects all of us in this room. But what about that poor grunt who needs a part for his tank in Afghanistan?” said Bob

Easterbrook, who served on an Army tank crew during the Cold War and now serves as president of East-Lind Heat Treat Inc. in

Madison Heights.
General Dynamics Land Systems, headquartered in Sterling Heights and the main contractor on the tank program, has warned that a

halt in production will jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs at more than 560 businesses across the country. Michigan would be affected

far more than any other state.
In Michigan, the move to idle the program from 2013-17 could affect jobs at more than 200 Michigan defense industry suppliers. The

cost-cutting plan sparked Levin to initiate a campaign that led to a bipartisan letter of protest from 136 House members to Army

Secretary John McHugh.
The manufacturers on hand for the town hall meeting said that a lengthy pause would cause such a permanent loss of workers and

skills — essentially a Michigan brain drain — that an extraordinarily difficult re-start would be required in the future. In the interim, the

Army could face problems supplying replacement parts for tanks deployed overseas in combat areas.
“Even if somehow all of the same people at all of these companies are still here three years from now, and they had some parts to get

started three years from now, they would have to have all of those parts recertified (by the Pentagon),” said Mark Roualet, president of

GD Land Systems.
Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County, told the business people on hand to write letters to Congress

explaining the “symmetry” that is involved among suppliers. Also, present pertinent information, he said, such as the astounding statistic

presented to Levin on Friday that the Abrams tank has more than 12,000 parts.
Easterbrook’s small firm relies upon business that is related — directly or indirectly — to tank production as it struggles with a work

force that has dropped from 36 employees 2½ years ago to 26 now. But he said he is currently unable to quantify the importance of the

tank program to his firm because some of the work done by the steel-treating company is conducted as a subcontractor, with the finished

material shipped to GD contractors. (Source: Macomb Daily)


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