COMBAT HELMETS FOR US ARMY WILL HELP VERMONT'S ECONOMY
By William Boardman Email address removed
The biggest war news out of Vermont lately is that the multi-national military industrial complex is expanding its manufacturing presence in the rural Green Mountain state with a significantly enlarged combat helmet-making factory that produces "head protection systems" for military and law enforcement clients worldwide.
Revision Military of Essex Junction, Vermont, will be making 90,000 new combat helmets for the U.S. Army, thanks to a deal brokered by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, and the state's economic development team. As of March 2012, US active duty military strength was more than 1.4 million, providing a substantial market for helmets.
The two-year, $21.6 million contract for more than 90,000 combat helmets will enable the company to double the size of its Newport workforce from 40 to 80 employees. This is seen as a boost for the chronically-challenged economy of Vermont's remote Northeast Kingdom.
Revision has some 200 employees worldwide, with offices in Canada and the Netherlands in addition to Vermont. Revision also has a recently signed, seven-year contract to sell 4,335 Batlskin Head Protection System helmets to the Danish military. Revision's current clients also include the British, Canadian, and Swiss militaries.
Revision CEO Jonathan Blanshay told NECN he hoped that: "Once we've delivered these 90,000, it's my hope and expectation we'll get another follow-on award for another couple hundred thousand helmets, which will keep this place humming for at least two more years."
Newport is the same town where the county sheriff's department suffered the loss of six cruisers and a van during the summer, when a disgruntled farmer ran over the vehicles with his parents' ten-ton tractor.
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