Posted on 08/23/2003 8:17:28 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
COLUMBUS, Ga. - German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch will build a firearms plant here that will employ 200 people initially and eventually up to 500, officials said.
"This has been an eight-year effort," Mike Gaymon, president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said Friday of the state's efforts to lure the plant.
Heckler & Koch makes weapons such as submachine guns, assault rifles and handguns for both civilian and military markets, including armed forces in Germany and Spain.
The company's U.S. headquarters are in Sterling, Va.
Officials said the initial construction phase is to cost about $20 million for the plant in Muscogee Technology Park.
Another gun maker, Glock, based in Austria, has North American headquarters in Smyrna. Glock pistols are used by 65 percent of American law enforcement agencies, according to the company's Web site.
Insured by H&K |
Can you say Ft Benning? Home of the US Army Infantry ....
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.
It makes sense, Germany is one of the few places with a fiscal/regulatory burden of government higher than the USSA.
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
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.
Just one question:
Is it pronounced "hek-ler and coke", "hek-ler and cook", or "hek-ler and cock"?
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