Aircraft manufacturer coming to BNAS
An aircraft manufacturing venture is planning to set up shop at the Brunswick Naval Air Station and create 300 jobs.
At a press conference in Augusta this morning, Gov. John Baldacci announced Kestrel Aircraft Co. has signed an option on a 170,000-square-foot hangar at the base, where it plans to begin initial production of a high-end, carbon-composite turboprop aircraft, according to a press release. The Oklahoma-based company chose Brunswick to manufacture its single-engine aircraft because of the region's emerging composites industry. Run by former Cirrus CEO and founder Alan Klapmeier, Kestrel Aircraft is planning to pump $100 million into the Brunswick facility to manufacture the Kestrel plane, which has been in development in England for years, according to industry news site AVweb. Kestrel Aircraft plans to initially hire 50 to 75 engineers and expand by another 250 workers when it begins production. Work could begin as early as November, according to The Times Record.
Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority officials have been searching for an anchor tenant for the redeveloped air station and had been in talks with Oxford Aviation, and then a spinoff corporation headed by famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. That venture fell through in February after comments made by town councilors led Bailey to determine that Brunswick was "hostile to business."
In related news, Maine Tool and Machine LLC, a Brunswick precision manufacturer for the aviation and medical industries, is also hoping to move to the base when it closes in 2011, according to The Times Record. The town of Brunswick plans to seek a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant to help fund the company's relocation. The company initially planned to expand in another location in Brunswick.
Go to the article from The Times Record >>
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