Task Force optimistic on tank future

Task Force optimistic on tank future
13 May 2011


A new defense spending bill and bipartisan support from the Legislature has local leaders optimistic about the future of the Lima tank industry.
Members of Task Force L.I.M.A. met Thursday to discuss the latest efforts to preserve work at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center. When the group met last month, members faced a tide of political will that appeared headed toward shuttering the plant's Abrams Tank program for three years and completely doing away with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an amphibious craft once considered an important piece of the plant's future.
That tide appears to have changed.
In the past 30 days, a bipartisan congressional response rose up against the Department of Defense's plans to slice the programs in a wider effort to trim the federal budget. A powerful congressman visited the plant and returned to Washington to insert $272 million into the budget for the Abrams. Another $12 million was authorized to allow for final testing on the EFV. And most importantly, leaders appear to be getting the message that closing the plant would cost more than keeping it in action.
“There's actually been pretty good news from the last 30 days,” said Lima Mayor David Berger, chairman of the task force. “I think we made great progress this past month, not just in words, but in actions formalized on the Hill.” (Source: www.limaohio.com)


Source;

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