Mary-Louise Hoffman
Boeing has asked the state of Pennsylvania for a $30 million grant to help the company redevelop a vacant industrial building in Delaware County into a modification facility for V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday.
Jacob Adelman writes a grant application filed through the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and obtained by the Inquirer says that Boeing is planning a $64.9 million project to build a military aircraft modification hub within the firm’s Ridley Park manufacturing complex.
The company would use the facility to standardize Osprey units that were built with different specifications and features in separate processes, Adelman reported.
Boeing and the U.S. Marine Corps partnered in an effort to cut the number of V-22 configurations because the company said the use of multiple configurations on the aircraft affect the service branch’s ability to carry out missions, according to the report.
Adelman noted the company looks to retain or sustain up to 450 jobs over the next 10-20 years through the proposed facility.
The Naval Air Systems Command posted a sources sought notice in August 2016 on FedBizOpps to survey potential companies that could help the Marine Corps develop a common configuration for Osprey.
