Columbus picked for firearms manufacturing plant

The Miami Herald ^ | Sat, Aug. 16, 2003 | Associated Press

[FreedomCalls]

Woo Hoo! This is good news for any of you laid-off FReepers in Georgia. Think "employee discount" and "manufacturers samples."

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Why didn't they build in China? Are they crazy?

Paging Willie Green. Paging Willie Green.

[Shooter 2.5]

Great news.

I like the location too. There's no sense to reward a state that won't let the employees own what they build.

[wcbtinman]

H&K is betting on the sunset of the AWB.

[zingzang]

It's going to employ 200 initially, and up to 500 in the long run. Just wait for the liberals to scream about these jobs. I can see it now..."Bush creates jobs that kill!!" "Bush only cares about destroying the environment and killing our children!!" Blah, blah, blah...as if the President is sitting behind his desk in the oval office making decisions about what plant locates it's business in what state. If the libs could ever wake up to this thing called the free market they might have a clue.

[RicocheT]

Many of H & K models go to police or military. Most have US made products only in weapons purchasing policies, so that is why the plant in in the US. Beretta did that to get the military to adopt the 9 mm.

[dogbyte12]

Isn't it ironic that we get manufacturing jobs in the US for a change, and it's a german company providing them.

[TXnMA]

My bumper sticker looks something like this:

Insured by H&K

[Yasotay]

Why didn't they build in China? Are they crazy?

Can you say Ft Benning? Home of the US Army Infantry ....

[Willie Green]

Gunmaker aims at $1 billion military contract

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Locating a factory near Fort Benning could give a German gun manufacturer an advantage as it tries to land a $1 billion contract for the U.S. infantry´s next-generation rifle, a company official said.

Heckler & Koch began research and development last year on the XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle, which ultimately could replace the U.S. Army´s M4A1 carbine and M16A2 rifle. The M16 has been manufactured by Colt since 1964.

Peter Simon, vice president of the gunmaker´s U.S. operations in Sterling, Va., said Columbus was a natural fit with its proximity to a major infantry training installation.

"At Fort Benning, you have this great diversity of units,´´ said Simon, a retired Army lieutenant colonel whose tours of duty included Fort Benning. "You have mechanized infantry from the 3rd Infantry Division, and you have the Rangers, and you´ve got several other units that might be capable of being part of the test bed.´´

Heckler & Koch, which is building a $20 million plant on 25 acres in Muscogee Technology Park, will use the state´s Quick Start training program at Columbus Technical College, Simon said.

The company is scheduled to break ground by November, with production beginning by the end of 2004. It expects to employ at least 80 people initially for the forging, molding and machining jobs, but that number could climb to as high as 500, Simon said.

The company is eligible for local property tax breaks and will receive $300,000 in state incentives. It also is expected to seek a bond issue from the Columbus Development Authority to build the 50,000-square-foot plant.

"The biggest driver was the economic viability of the agreement that we could strike with our host location,´´ Simon said. "But no one else had Fort Benning and nowhere else did we have that combination of proximity to our primary customer base, which is the military and law enforcement, and the economic business climate we were after.´´

Other states under consideration for the plant were Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Texas, he said.

One piece of work includes a $4.8 million contract with the Transportation Security Administration to make 9,600 pistols over four years.

[AdamSelene235]

Isn't it ironic that we get manufacturing jobs in the US for a change, and it's a german company providing them.

It makes sense, Germany is one of the few places with a fiscal/regulatory burden of government higher than the USSA.

[harpseal]

Ping for good news.

On or off let me know.

[Dark Wing]

book mark

[ccmay]

XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle

The H & K G11 assault rifle and its caseless ammunition are much more interesting. Guess nothing ever came of it.

I remember being worried that it was a ploy to put a stop to home reloading.

-ccm

[GovernmentShrinker]

Awesome! Let the Chinese make all the plastic trinkets. The USA will make the important stuff!

[Atchafalaya]

I guess the German geewizz guys are better than our geewizz guys? I doubt it, so ???

[Panzerfaust]

Quote:

Isn't it ironic that we get manufacturing jobs in the US for a change, and it's a german company providing them.

What's really ironic is that H&K is owned by a British company.

Heckler & Koch is entirely owned by Royal Ordnance, who is in turn owned by BAE Systems, a British company.

[Yasotay]

The G11 was a great development forward .... I think it also almost bankrupted H&K. The end of the Cold War put an end to the G11. I hope they reinvent it.

[Panzerfaust]

Forgot to mention that I own two HK pistols, a USP 9mm and a P7M8. Love them both and I don't care who owns the company. All your Kochs are belong to us!

[FreedomCalls]

All your Kochs are belong to us!

Just one question:

Is it pronounced "hek-ler and coke", "hek-ler and cook", or "hek-ler and cock"?