Bush’s Budget Looks Good for Norwalk-Based Company as Maloney Eyes More Funds
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, Feb. 06–Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5th) is excited about the prospects for Norwalk-based Norden Systems under President George W. Bush’s proposed increase in defense spending and said he will push to secure even more money for a Norden project.
Maloney, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that last year he helped increase federal funds for the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP), which is under contract with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Co. Norden, a unit of Northrop Grumman, manufactures radars and employs 500 people.
MP-RTIP, which calls for development of a radar system on manned and unmanned surveillance airborne platforms, is “the single most important” item in the defense budget for Norden, said company spokeswoman Fran DiMeglio.
Maloney agreed, calling the program’s surveillance equipment “highly effective.” “We have made the case we should build more of them. The president’s budget starts where we left offáAnd that’s the good news for Norwalk.”
The Defense Department’s budget, announced Monday, calls for $1 million more for the program in fiscal year 2003 than the $79 million it received for the same period in the current year.
“It will definitely be a benefit” to Norden, DiMeglio said.
The budget calls for a $97.2 million cut in research and development for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), for which Norden makes radar. But according to DiMeglio, the cut will not affect Norden’s continued production of the radar system.
Maloney said the Defense Department’s current budget does not provide adequate funds for Army Guard and Reserves. But next year, the prospects for more funds are improved because of the larger proposed defense budget.
Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is another company in Fairfield County that would benefit from Bush’s defense budget. The county ranks first in Connecticut in defense contracts awarded per capita, according to the Connecticut Dept. of Economic and Community Development in Hartford.
The budget calls for a $128.9 million increase in fiscal year 2003 to develop the Comanche helicopter. Sikorsky has a contract to work on the helicopter’s airframe and avionics with its parent company United Technologies Corp. and Boeing Co. in Philadelphia.
Bush’s proposal also calls for the manufacture of 27 Black Hawk helicopters-two more than he originally proposed a year ago. Sikorsky is the prime contractor for the aircraft. Maloney said he helped push the number to 35 helicopters in the final budget.
“The president’s a little bit ahead [of where we were last year],” Maloney said. “[This year] we start up a notch.”
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
