S.A. to D.C." trip to the nations capital next week
By David Hendricks - Express-News
San Antonio could lose a big component of its $4 billion-a-year aerospace industry if the government continues to in-source categories of work now performed by large contractors such as Boeing & Lockheed Martin Corp. leaders from Port San Antonio and the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce warned Tuesday.
A threat to the engine repair maintenance and overhaul work performed at Port San Antonio is emerging at Oklahoma Citys Tinker AFB said Jim Perschbach chairman of the chambers aerospace committee.
Tinker last year won a $5 million federal allocation that could be used to build a foundation for a new $250 million engine test cell similar to the one that exists at the San Antonio industrial park said Perschbach a partner in the San Antonio office of the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm.
The San Antonio test cell owned by Port San Antonio is the only one in the U.S. that can test the size of rebuilt engines used by the militarys largest aircraft he added.
We dont see the benefit to taxpayers to duplicate construction of a new test cell."
Federal law requires that no more than 50 percent of all maintenance repair and overhaul work on certain military aircraft be conducted by
private contractors.
As the military begins a transition to a new airborne tanker the Pentagon could decide to shift maintenance of those engines to its core" category meaning private contractors could not bid for the work said Andres Gutierrez a consultant with CloudStreak Consulting.
To date work on jet fighters was considered core" because of national security concerns but work on tankers transports and trainers was categorized as available for private contractors because those aircraft had commercial capabilities Gutierrez told the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board on Tuesday.
All the tea leaves are aimed in that direction" Gutierrez said of the possibility that engine work could be re-categorized. If we go to sleep if we dont talk about this issue the work could go away."
During next weeks S.A. to D.C." trip to the nations capital organized by the
Greater San Antonio and
San Antonio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce business leaders will try to learn if the Obama administrations budget proposal for the coming fiscal year contains funding for a new military-operated engine test cell.
Port San Antonio is home to 17 aerospace companies that employ about 4300 workers.
San Antonio has about 10300 aerospace workers generating an annual economic ripple effect of $4 billion a year according to the industrys latest report.
About 70 percent of the industrial parks income stems from leases by companies performing engine and airframe contracts for the Defense Department said Wayne Alexander the ports board chairman.
