NG says KC-45A work will add 48,000 jobs

LOS ANGELES, March 13 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman said Tuesday its KC-45A tanker program would create 48,000 new U.S. jobs.

Northrop Grumman said in a statement "that as a result of winning the KC-45A tanker program, its 230 suppliers, located in 49 states, have completed a careful review of their employment projections and determined that America's industrial base will expand by 48,000 direct and indirect new jobs. None of these U.S. jobs will move to Europe. This total does not include additional jobs that will be created in the U.S. with the future production of commercial A330 freighter aircraft in Alabama."

"In the early stages of the proposal process, we employed a conservative model developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce to estimate the number of jobs our offer would generate," said Paul K. Meyer, Northrop Grumman vice president of Air Mobility Systems and KC-45A program manager.

"Having won the program we have received more detailed data from our U.S. supplier base and have applied a U.S. Department of Labor employment projection model that includes an indirect job multiplier factor. This factor uses specific regional and state job projection criteria, providing a more accurate job projection number," Meyer said.

"Four new factories will ultimately be built in the United States to support the Northrop Grumman KC-45A program. Northrop Grumman and its primary subcontractor EADS will each build one manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala., creating more than 1,500 direct new jobs," Northrop Grumman said.

"EADS and Sargent Fletcher, producer of the KC-45A's refueling system, will build a new production facility in West Virginia and create 100 direct new jobs. General Electric is considering locating final assembly of KC-45A engines in a new facility to be located in Evendale, Ohio," the company said.

"The KC-45A win not only brings economic vitality to Alabama, it also contributes to a new aerospace corridor in the southeastern United States and will increase U.S. competitiveness in the global aerospace market," said Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala.