Sgt. Rock
Full Access Member
The sequester may be affecting some of the United States' defense budget, but not the part of that is the U.S. Army's Product Improvement Program, which is set to upgrade the Army's old issue M4 rifles to newer M4A1 models.
According to Military.com, after a dramatic bidding and re-bidding process, the M4A1 contract, with an estimated value of approximately $77 million, is going not to incumbent manufacturer Colt Defense nor Remington Arms (owned by Freedom Group), but to a foreign company, FN Herstal. The initial part of the contract award — around $9.3 million worth — was posted at the government's Federal Business Opportunities site earlier this month.
While FN Herstal has its manufacturing plant in South Carolina, the company itself is a subsidiary of the Herstal Group, which, according to its website, "… has been 100 percent owned by the Walloon Region of Belgium," or in other words, the government of Belgium. So, while net-net, manufacturing jobs are preserved in the U.S., the profits go to a foreign entity, which could also engender a loss of sales, administrative and other jobs in the U.S.
According to Military.com, after a dramatic bidding and re-bidding process, the M4A1 contract, with an estimated value of approximately $77 million, is going not to incumbent manufacturer Colt Defense nor Remington Arms (owned by Freedom Group), but to a foreign company, FN Herstal. The initial part of the contract award — around $9.3 million worth — was posted at the government's Federal Business Opportunities site earlier this month.
While FN Herstal has its manufacturing plant in South Carolina, the company itself is a subsidiary of the Herstal Group, which, according to its website, "… has been 100 percent owned by the Walloon Region of Belgium," or in other words, the government of Belgium. So, while net-net, manufacturing jobs are preserved in the U.S., the profits go to a foreign entity, which could also engender a loss of sales, administrative and other jobs in the U.S.
