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OWEGO, N.Y. -

United States Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) visited Lockheed Martin's helicopter production hangar in Owego on Thursday afternoon to get an update on the company's projects and to reassure employees that he's working to keep jobs in the Southern Tier.

"We will be spending a few minutes with him, later on, to talk about the progress of our programs and more importantly to share with him the incredible accomplishments of the women and men of this Owego workforce," said Paula Hartley, Lockheed Martin Owego General Manager.

He has been a wonderful partner to us and a big believer of growing the economy in New York State. He has been a very good, long-standing partner with Lockheed, with this facility, and our Rotary Wing programs including MH-60, the Combat Rescue Helicopter and the Presidential Helicopter.

Paula Hartley

There are three projects that the Senator calls his "pet projects" because they are important to the economy in New York as well as for National Security.

Lockheed Martin Helicopters

"Our fighting men and women are the most wonderful people in the world, many of them come from this area, so they need the best equipment in the world," said Schumer.

The Senator expects the Military Budget to increase for the second year in a row and as a result, he plans to direct more money into Owego, the Southern Tier, and Upstate New York.

"The budget is coming up very soon and I'll be working very hard to maximize the budget dollars that go into these three projects," said Schumer.

Whenever I can help with jobs, I do it and there's no more important job magnet in the whole Southern Tier than this plant right here.

The Owego Facility, which has 2,600 workers is one of the most important pieces of the State's economy, according to Schumer.

"This is by far and away the largest and most important private employer here in Tioga County," said Schumer. "This is one of our economic mainstays, not only in Tioga County but of all of Upstate New York."

"It's always important whenever we have the support of our elected officials for any big company that's in our area," saidGwen Kania, Tioga Chamber of Commerce President. "We're happy that he always supports Tioga County and we hope that he can convince the budget people to continue to support us here."

Schumer wrote a letter to the Secretary of Defense, Jeff Mattis, urging him to continue to support the three helicopter programs that come out of Owego.

Dear Secretary Mattis:

I write to urge your continued support for three helicopter programs that are important to our national security and to regional economies across the country: The Air Forces Combat Rescue Helicopter (CSAR Recapitalization), the Presidential Helicopter (Executive Helo Development) and MH-60 Romeo Helicopter programs. Each of these platforms has an important presence in New York, supporting over 1,000 engineering, manufacturing, and production jobs. While the Departments support of funding for these programs is important to industry and rural economies in places across our nation, like Owego, New York, a continued investment is more important as these aircraft age and new security threats emerge.

The Combat Rescue Helicopter performs critical combat rescue and personnel recovery operations across the services. Over the past few years, these helicopters have participated in countless missions in Iraq and Afghanistan in support of our Joint and Coalition forces. The USAF needs to replace the current aging combat rescue helicopter fleet with aircraft capable of performing the demanding personnel recovery missions, including combat rescue and casualty evacuation. I ask for your support of this program in Fiscal Year 2018 and beyond.

The Presidential Helicopter Program (VH-92A) is the replacement helicopter for the VH-3D and VH-60N. This new fleet of VH-92A helicopters will continue providing safe and timely transportation for the President and Vice-President of the United States, as well as other heads of state and support the Presidential world-wide vertical-lift mission. I ask for your continued support of this program to ensure that replacement remains on schedule.

The MH-60 Romeo Naval Hawk is designed to support multi-mission helicopter requirements. The Romeos primary missions are Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) and SUW as well as Search and Rescue and Humanitarian Missions. Additional aircraft are needed per the Navys new Force Structure Assessment. The current fleet of MH-60 aircraft are approaching the end of their service life due to high demand on the fleet. Based on age and aircraft utilization rates, the Navy will have to replace their in the mid-2030s. This will result in an inventory gap in the mid-2030s. To mitigate this shortfall, the Navy is planning a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) beginning with the MH-60S in approximately 2023. While a SLEP is required to extend the life of the current fleet taking these aircraft out of service to perform the SLEP creates an inventory shortfall. To avoid a shortfall in inventory, I ask for your support SLEP Research and Development funds in FY18, as well as funding for mid-life upgrades.

Thank you for your attention to these items. Please do not hesitate to reach out to my office for any questions.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

Schumer says all three projects "are strong right now," but there is always room to grow and he doesn't want to miss that opportunity. In his closed-door meeting with Lockheed Officials, he discussed some of the new Plans that the Armed Forces are proposing, but he couldn't discuss them publicly.

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