Mesa helicopter company gets a combined total of $72.3 million for three defense contracts

MESA – McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. on Sept. 22 was awarded a $9.2 million contract for the production of system support for the Royal Netherlands Air Force Apache Helicopter Program, the U.S. Department of Defense reported. The work will be performed in Mesa and is expected to be completed by late December 2008.

The company on Sept. 28 was awarded two additional defense contracts, a $37 million contract for aircraft survivability equipment systems for Apache attack helicopters and a $26.1 million contract for software and modems for that same type of attack helicopter. Work on the survivability system will be performed in Mesa and is slated to be completed by mid‑May 2010. Work on the modem and software will also be performed in Mesa and is expected to be finished in late October 2007.

Phoenix aircraft company awarded $7.7 million in U.S. military and foreign contracts

VALLEY–Goodrich Corporation (UPCO) is being awarded a $7.7 million for digital recovery devices used in military jet ejection seats, the U.S. Department of Defense reported. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force (60 percent), and the governments of Greece (16 percent); Egypt (15 percent); Jordan (2 percent); Korea (2.5 percent); Bahrain (1 percent); Turkey, Pakistan, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Taiwan, and Thailand (less than 1 percent each) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. Production will be performed in Northridge, Calif. (47 percent); Glasgow, Scotland (17 percent); and Phoenix, Ariz. (36 percent). Completion of the work is expected by November 2007.

Job cuts soar in September

Associated Press

NEW YORK – Job cuts soared last month, topping the 100,000 mark for the first time since last January. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas says it’s the second straight month of increased job cuts, topping the August tally by 54 percent and the level of a year ago by 40 percent.

The increase was led by the auto industry, which announced nearly 34,000 cuts. That was dominated by suppliers who are starting to feel the effects of the production cutbacks at Ford, General Motors and Daimler Chrysler.

There were also sizable increases in the telecommunications and housing industries. So far this year employers have announced more than 639,000 job cuts, a drop of 18 percent from a year ago.