Business booming for contractors rebuilding Iraq equipment

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/16336766.htm

LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. - Dozens of military vehicles plucked from the battlefields of Iraq stand idle and partly dismantled outside a rural Pennsylvania plant, awaiting mechanics, welders and painters who will prepare them for another tour of duty.

The Bradley Fighting Vehicles, stripped of their treads, scarred and simply worn down from being driven long miles in harsh desert conditions, are the latest of hundreds refurbished or upgraded annually by their maker, BAE Systems - one of many defense contractors whose business has grown throughout five years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

BAE Systems has seen its Bradley business roughly double since the start of the war in 2003, and like many defense companies, is poised to benefit further from soaring government spending as the military replaces, repairs or upgrades combat equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, the military began shipping thousands of battered Humvees and other pieces of equipment - from helicopters to tanks - from Iraq to the United States to be rebuilt.

Another major defense contractor, General Dynamics Corp., has been awarded contracts to overhaul hundreds of its Abrams tanks since 2004, according to Tom Peterson, the company's M1A2 Abrams program manager. It has also established a major repair depot in the Middle East for its eight-wheeled Stryker troop carriers.