FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2000

SCHUMER, MCNULTY, MOYNIHAN ANNOUNCE WATERVLIET ARSENAL HAS WON LUCRATIVE HOWITZER CONTRACT FROM NAVY

Legislators Say Arsenal Will Remain Open and Viable

US Senators Charles E. Schumer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan and US Rep. Mike McNulty today announced that the Watervliet Arsenal has won the contract from the US Navy to build an estimated 700 Lightweight 155mm Howitzer cannons for the Army and Marine Corp. Watervliet beat out two other bids to win the multi-million dollar contract which will account for over 50 percent of the work done at the Arsenal.

"Watervliet is the classic Cinderella story," Schumer said. "Despite being the birthplace of the Howitzer cannon, the arsenal still had to overcome what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles to get this contract. Ultimately, the technical expertise of the men and women who work there proved to be the deciding factor in what was an extraordinarily competitive bidding process. Without this contract, the arsenal would not have survived."

"This is an important first step in building a bright future for the Watervliet Arsenal," McNulty said. "Hopefully, this will be followed by good news with regard to the join venture by General Dynamics, United Defense Limited Partnership (UDLP) and British Aerospace (BAE Systems). And beyond that, Tony Gaetano and the Arsenal Partnership offer further prospects for expansion of job opportunities on the Arsenal Campus."

"The future of the arsenal is brighter today than it has been in some time," Moynihan said. "I congratulate all who helped to win this contract and I look forward to more of the same. The period of declining workloads is at an end."

The Watervliet Arsenal is the oldest active manufacturing arsenal in the United States. The Arsenal produces thick and thin walled cannon, howitzers, and mortars. In recent years, the Arsenal has provided new and replacement parts for military vehicles, aircraft and ships. Watervliet Arsenal's customers include the U.S. military, foreign governments and private sector companies. As a result of quality management implementation, it has demonstrated improvements in all major quality performance metrics over the past five years. It has also established a cooperative labor management partnership, and employee grievances have been reduced by 87 percent since 1993 .

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