UPDATE: What happens to military contractors who don't get civilian contracts? Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc, which makes missile-decoys for US military aircraft, says it's laying off up to 160 and closing one of its plants in Chester Township, Delaware County, on May 27.
Says Alloy president John LaFemina PhD: "Our decoys work well. They save lives. But unfortunately usage rates have gone down" with cuts to US forces and flights in Iraq, and "Afghanistan is a different type of conflict where they don't use our materials as much. And with the defense budget stalling," orders have slowed.
LaFemina says Alloy's technology center (R&D lab) in Bethel Township is working on new uses for the company's markers in training, safety, rescue, and other settings. It may be able to reduce the number of jobs lost, to more like 125. But "we are closing our Plant 3," a leased facility that accomodated a surge in orders from 2004-08, while keeping open the main plant nearby and the Bethel center, with a total of nearly 400 jobs, in hopes of future orders.