Schumer To Make Direct Appeal To Northrop-Grumman CEO: Finalize Commitment With New York State And Keep Jobs On Long Island Now That You Have Received $1 Billion In Hawkeye Funding

Press Release

Congress Approved Full Funding for Northrop-Grumman's LI-based 'Hawkeye' Aircraft Program but Company Still Threatening to Cut Operations on Long Island -- Over 2,000 LI Jobs Are At Risk

Schumer Led Fight to Secure Funding Approved Last Month

Company Had Said Federal Funding Was Key to Keeping Jobs on LI - With Funding Now In Place, Schumer to Say It's Time for Northrop-Grumman to Finalize Its Commitment With NYS and Keep Plant and Create Jobs on Long Island

With the Navy's Hawkeye Aircraft Program finally receiving full-funding, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged Northrop-Grumman's CEO to finalize its commitment to New York State by finishing negotiations with the New York State Economic Development Corporation and publicly pledging to keep its Bethpage operations on Long Island, preserving over 2,000 jobs. The Navy's Hawkeye Aircraft program had been underfunded for the past two fiscal years, but 2010 Defense Appropriations bill signed in to law last month fully funds the production of three new aircraft. The company had indicated that securing this funding was key to keeping and growing its operations on Long Island. Northrop-Grumman employs about 2,000 people on Long Island and the engineering and systems integration work done for the Hawkeye program represents the largest part of the company's local operation. Fully funding the Hawkeye program is essential to keeping and growing jobs on Long Island. However, Northrop-Grumman has yet to act on a new incentives package with the NYS Economic Development office. This has been dragging out for weeks, as Northrop-Grumman has been looking to potentially relocate. Schumer will say that the company needs to finalize plans for the expansion and make a public commitment to Long Island as soon as possible, with or without incentives, now that the federal funding has been delivered.

"Now that the Navy's Hawkeye Program has received full-funding, it's time for Northrop-Grumman to finalize its commitment to keep the jobs on Long Island," Schumer said. "During these tough economic times where so many Long Island families are struggling to make ends meet, it is essential to grow high-tech industries and good paying professions on Long Island. I hope Northrop-Grumman does the right thing for Long Island and agrees to keep this operation right where it is."

Over the past months, Northrop-Grumman has been negotiating with New York State economic development officials to not only preserve its current work force on Long Island but also potentially expand. Northrop-Grumman had made securing a steady stream of federal funding a key sticking point for staying and potentially expanding on Long Island.

Schumer said now that the federal and state governments have stepped up to the plate by providing full funding for the Hawkeye, it's time for Northrop-Grumman to make good on their public promises to grow jobs here. Schumer also said today that the company should look to grow the Hawkeye program right here on Long Island because of our strong universities and engineering programs. Over the last five years, Northrop-Grumman has hired hundreds of new college graduates, mostly from local Long Island colleges and universities.

In previous years, the Hawkeye aircraft had been significantly underfunded. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the Navy's carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Battle Management Command and Control system, providing Theater Air and Missile Defense. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is capable of synthesizing information from multiple onboard and off-board sensors, making complex tactical decisions, and disseminating actionable information to our joint forces in a distributed, open-architecture environment. Navy leadership has expressed its strong support for the project.

Last year, Schumer joined with a bi-partisan coalition of senators to reverse the cuts and fully fund the program. Last month, Congress approved and the President signed in to law legislation devoting over $1 Billion for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Program. The funding will be used to develop three Hawkeye aircraft at Northrop-Grumman. Northrop-Grumman is the originator of the Hawkeye Program and has supported the program for 40 years. In the absence of the full funding for the additional aircraft, a production gap would have been created, resulting in approximately 70 job losses between now and mid-2011. To date, 79 highly skilled jobs have been lost from the program due to previous cuts.

Now that the funding is in place, Schumer today called on Northup-Grumman CEO to finalize its commitment with New York State to maintain its operations on Long Island and even expand. The New York State Economic Development Corporation has been negotiating with Northup-Grumman for several months.

Northrop-Grumman is the originator of the Hawkeye Program and have supported the program for 40 years. It is the mainstay of their employment base on Long Island. Northrop-Grumman is a major high technology employer on Long Island and infuses more than $4.5 million in property taxes into the tax base and $160M in gross payroll on Long Island. Northrop-Grumman has been on Long Island for 80 years and continues to be committed to Long Island, to the region and to New York State. Northrop-Grumman employs about 3,200 people around New York State.

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