Loss Of Comanche ‘Devastating’ To Bridgeport, Workers

 By Sarah Coffey Associated Press

BRIDGEPORT — The Comanche attack helicopter showed so much promise — not just for the Army, but for Connecticut.

It boosted the bottom line of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. It provided the kind of high-tech manufacturing work that Connecticut employers said represented the future of the industry. And in Bridgeport, the sprawling Comanche production facility was a source of taxes, jobs and pride.

On Monday, after investing $8 billion in the first stealth helicopter, the Pentagon said it plans to pull the plug on the program, leaving city officials and hundreds of Connecticut workers wondering what happens next.

Five helicopters are close to completion, and Sikorsky officials said they do not know what will happen to them.

“What we need to do now is find out how the government wants us to proceed,” spokesman Matt Broder said. “We’re cataloging everything we know and we’re going to ask, ‘What do you, the Army, want to do with all of this great technology that you funded? All these manufacturing processes that you funded? All the classified technology that’s been developed?’”

Broder said it was too soon to predict the effect on Sikorsky jobs.

“There wouldn’t be a short-term effect,” said Harvey Jackson, president of Teamsters Local 1150, which represents 3,600 Sikorsky workers. “But if something doesn’t come soon to replace that aircraft, certainly there will be an effect on jobs.”

The helicopter is being built by Sikorsky and Boeing Co.

Boeing spokesman John Morrocco said the company was “disappointed with the US Army’s decision to cancel the Comanche program.” He said Boeing would reassign its employees to other military projects.

“I’ve been working there for 2½ years, and we’re finally getting to start to see the product coming together,” said Sikorsky engineer Terry Wachter, of Milford. “And now, well, it just hurts. Really. You want to see it go. You want to see all the hard work pay off.”

Some workers expressed frustration that the Comanche would be eliminated so late into the project.

“Some people have been working on this project for 20 some-odd years,” said Tom Perkowski, 48, of Shelton, as he left work at the Comanche plant Monday. “Eight billion into it, I wouldn’t want to see that money go down the drain.”

The Comanche program was started in 1983. Under a 2002 restructuring plan, the first helicopters were to be delivered to the Army in 2009.

“I couldn’t wait for the day when I could stand and watch the Comanche flying right overhead, built here in Bridgeport. It was going to be a real moral booster,” Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi said. “This is just deflating.”

Fabrizi said the city has worked to provide quality-of-life benefits to Sikorsky employees. They were given free use of a nearby city park. Police were put on notice to keep the area safe during shift changes. And city officials planned to shut down roads and reroute traffic during flight tests.

In exchange, the city got to be home to the world’s most advanced helicopter.

About 400 people work at the 200,000-square-foot facility — the combined size of three football fields. They work on a custom assembly line that company officials predicted would revolutionize helicopter manufacturing and design.