H&K is scaling back operations after the XM-8 project was canceled:

When German gunmaker Heckler & Koch showed up in Columbus more than two years ago, it had big plans for becoming one of the city’s major local companies.

On the drawing board was a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, a $25 million capital investment and at least 200 high-paying jobs — maybe more. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue even visited Columbus to attend a groundbreaking at Muscogee Technology Park, the industrial area off Macon Road where H&K was supposed to construct its large facility.

But Sterling, Va.-based Heckler & Koch (pronounced “coke”) had to scale back its strategy in a major way after learning last October that the U.S. military had canceled competitive bidding for the next-generation assault rifle. H&K was hoping to land a lucrative contract with the government to replace its 40-year-old M4 carbine and M16 rifle.

Now the company is regrouping in Columbus, forgoing construction of a large plant for an existing 13,170-square-foot building near Columbus East Industrial Park off Macon Road. The structure, formerly used by Cessna Aircraft, is the U.S. distribution center for H&K’s 80 models of weapons and accessories.

Peter Simon, H&K executive vice president for programs and government relations, in an interview last week, was cautious in his remarks about the company’s downsized fortunes. He knows offending someone in the military’s supply chain could harm H&K’s chances of landing a huge contract.

Still, he said it has been tough watching the XM8 assault rifle developed by his company — and generally applauded by soldiers testing it in the field — get shot down in the bidding process.

Well, if the project has been shot down, does that mean they’ve selected another rifle? If so, which one? Maybe the FN SCAR? Mmmmm, SCAR.

Posted in uncategorized on January 31st, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |