GE Rutland gets

Navy jet contract

GE Aviation in Rutland was awarded an $8 million contract to build engines for the Navy’s EA-18G aircraft, the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced Thursday.

The total contract of $67 million is being divided among several GE plants. Rutland’s share is 12 percent of the total award.

The Rutland plants have added 200 jobs over the last three years, bringing total employment to 1,100. The company also has invested more than $75 million in the blade and vane plants over that period to increase productivity and efficiency and to handle a backlog in jet engine orders.

The latest contract follows a $197 million Navy fighter contract awarded last month. The GE Rutland share for the 52 engines for the F/A-18E/F carrier-based fighter was $23.7 million.

“The continued success of GE Rutland is a sign of the superior quality of the work done at the Vermont plant,” said Leahy, the most senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Defense Subcommittee. “Each new contract awarded to the Rutland facility is a reminder of the economic value of GE to our state and of the trust our armed forces place in their products.”

The Rutland plants on Windcrest Road and Columbian Avenue make compressor blades for both military and civilian aircraft, including parts for the new Boeing passenger plane, the 787 Dreamliner.