Alloy Surfaces Recap

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Alloy Surfaces, a manufacturer in Bethel that produces vital, life-saving aircraft countermeasures for America and our allies. Alloy is one of the largest employers in Delaware County, employing about 500 people at three different facilities.

Alloy is a major manufacturer of aircraft countermeasures, a product where the need for reliability is obvious. The concept of the countermeasures is simple: an enemy missile is launched at an American aircraft and locks on to the heat radiating from the aircraft’s engines. The countermeasures deploy and create an intense heat signature with the hope that it spoofs the missile into locking on to the countermeasure instead.

The principle may be straightforward, but the engineering and technology involved is cutting edge. Alloy must continually refine its products to keep up with the latest missile technology that may be used against our men and women in combat.

One particular concern that Alloy’s employees voiced to me was the shortage of money in the defense budget for the testing of new technologies. Alloy pays the upfront research and development costs on a new technology, but the military doesn’t have the money to spend to test out the new product and decide if it should be fielded with our troops. Because of this, groundbreaking new technology that could save the lives of our troops on the battlefield may go unused because the Pentagon didn’t have sufficient funding to test the product.

Alloy is part of a defense industry that is vital to the entire 7^th District and Delaware County in particular. Companies like Alloy, Boeing and Piasecki Aircraft not only provide thousands of jobs in our district but also serve as a magnet for highly-skilled engineers and scientists. The larger contractors like Alloy and Boeing attract countless other smaller subcontractors to our region which have helped make the Delaware Valley one of the nation’s fastest growing regions for engineering and technology .

Thank you to the people of Alloy for taking the time to provide me with a tour of their facility and explain to me the challenges they face. With voters' support this fall, I hope to work with Alloy as a Congressman to continue to bring good, highly-skilled jobs to the 7^th District.