Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online

Force Protection Communications Director Tommy Pruitt told The Courier-Times Tuesday that the company’s military pre-deployment operations would soon be shifted from South Carolina to the Roxboro facility, housed in the former Collins & Aikman building at the intersection of U.S. 501 North and Halifax Road.

“In the third or fourth quarter of this year, we will be getting the process rolling and up and running and actually start conducting training shortly after the first of the year,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt added, however, that he was unable to disclose how many jobs would be associated with the training operation.

“I still don’t have a firm number to give you,” Pruitt said.

In addition to locating the training operations at the Roxboro facility, Pruitt also pointed out that some members of the company’s spares management team would also be located in Roxboro.

Force Protection CEO Michael Moody said during a conference call with company investors in late May that the lifespan of the MRAP vehicles produced by Force Protection could be as much as 20 years. The initial cost of the vehicles is about $500,000, however, Moody suggested the total revenue over the possible 20-year span could reach as high as $2.5 million per vehicle.

“…Our view is that the dollars spent on the procurement of the vehicle is only 20 percent of the total life cost of the vehicle,” Moody said. “…Our view is these are 12, 15, maybe up to 20 years. But I think it’s not unreasonable to look at that sort of lifespan, and that sort of expenditure.”

During that same conference call, Moody spoke of the Roxboro facility being used as a training facility for military personnel who will be operating the Force Protection MRAPs.

“…A lot of the work going to Roxboro will be, the training of the people to go into theater, both military personnel and Iran personnel and some other management functions as well,” Moody said.

While it does appear that Force Protection will move some of its workforce to Person County, production of the MRAP Cheetah, which was originally scheduled to begin earlier this year at the facility, is still on hold.

Pruitt said Tuesday that no date has been set for production of the Cheetah in Roxboro, however, he did note that the company was “maintaining enough room should we need it” for production of the MRAPs.

The Roxboro facility, Pruitt continued, “primarily won’t be a manufacturing facility.” Instead, the current future plans at the facility are to use it for “training soldiers…and spares management.”

The manufacturing portion of the Force Protection operation will remain in Ladson, S.C. for the foreseeable future, Pruitt added.

During the late May conference call, Moody, referring to production of the Cheetah, said, “We believe that this remains a great opportunity for Force Protection. However, we still do not have an order to announce…. We are working hard to secure orders from both the U.S. government and foreign military customers and we remain optimistic about Cheetah’s potential.”

Earlier this month, Force Protection announced that it had received a new contract modification for the service and support, including spare parts, of its MRAPs from the U.S. Marine Corps.

Work under the order, which totals $42.5 million, is expected to be completed by December of 2009.

Pruitt said Tuesday he was not sure how that contract would affect the Roxboro facility.

“It’s hard to say where specific contracts will have an affect,” Pruitt said. “It depends on how the work is split out.”

When Force Protection first announced plans to locate in Person County, company officials guaranteed 270 well-paying jobs.

Last summer, Force Protection struck a deal with the state for grants totaling approximately $3 million if it met job-creation goals of approximately 65 each year from 2007 through 2010.

As of Tuesday, Pruitt said there were “still around 15 or 20 people” employed at the Roxboro facility.

“That number will be going up, obviously, as we move some of our operations there,” Pruitt added. He also noted that prior to increasing the workforce with the planned moves, Force Protection “did layoff a handful of assembly workers” recently at the facility.

When quizzed of the possibility of meeting the number of jobs initially promised by Force Protection, Pruitt said, “There’s still a chance to do that.

“We need to determine how many people we will need to be there to conduct the operations and what the scope of the spares management will be,” Pruitt added. “We are still working closely with the folks in Person County and plan to maintain a presence there.”