Local war profiteers: Ducommun AeroStructures in Coxsackie, NY

From time to time we'll take a look at some other war profiteers in our neighborhood. Today we turn to Ducommun AeroStructures in Coxsackie, NY, which manufactures large titanium and aluminum components and assemblies for the aerospace and military industries. Founded in 1977 as DynaBil, the facility was bought in 2008 by the California-based Ducommun Inc for $46.5 million. In 2018 the plant was said to have 240 employees.

We don't know what proportion of their business is military -- they also make parts for civilian aircraft such as Airbus, the Boeing 737 and 787, and Gulfstream -- nor do we have details of most of their business, but as with other companies a few contracts get into the public domain through press releases or articles.

This small random sampling of their activities shows in microcosm the military-industrial complex spreading its tentacles into every congressional district through networks of subsidiaries, subcontractors, and sub-sub-contractors. Companies like Ducommun AeroStructures and its neighbor Ametek Rotron loom large on the local scale, but they're tiny minnows in the murky ecosystem of weapons companies and military bottom-feeders:

• December 2023: Rep. Marc Molinaro touts his influence as a member of the the National Defense Authorization Act Conference Committee, boasting: "Critically for Upstate New York, the NDAA authorizes funding for Lockheed Martin in Owego, BAE Systems in Johnson City, Ducommun Incorporated in Coxsackie, and supports much of the local defense industry." All three are in his district.
  
• 2020: Ducommun Inc announces that its Coxsackie, New York Performance Center "received an award for hot form titanium products from Northrop Grumman, a new customer for the site."
  
• 2018: Then-Rep. John Faso enthuses that Ducommun AeroStructures manufactures "key systems" in Black Hawk helicopters and praises the Pentagon's acquisition of another 58 UH-60M Black Hawks. (In September 2024 an Israeli Black Hawk crashed in Gaza. On October 12, 2023 it was reported that Black Hawks were being "heavily employed" in Israel's escalating operation in Gaza. As for Faso, he has parlayed his single term in Congress into a job as "Senior Advisor" at Wellington Dupont, which coyly desctibes itself as a "public affairs firm" whose services include "Federal and State Government Relations" and "Lobbying Support".)
  
• 2014: Ducommun was recognized by Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., for its role as a critical partner on the S-97 RAIDER high-speed scout and attack helicopter program. According to a company statement, Ducommun developed the main exhaust components for the helicopter at its Coxsackie, NY, facility.
• 2012: According to Business Wire, Ducommun "received a contract from Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), to produce titanium firewall and baffle assemblies for the AH-1Z Cobra - the U.S. Marine Corps' newest attack helicopter. Ducommun AeroStructures will produce the assemblies at its Coxsackie, N.Y. facility through 2013." The AH-1Z, while a member of the Cobra family of attack helicopters, is usually known as the Viper. (The Israeli air force has used Cobra helicopter gunships since at least its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. In June 2023 Israel deployed two Cobras in a raid on Jenin in the West Bank.)
  
• 2010: Boeing puffs the benefits that would accrue to New York State "if the Boeing NewGen Tanker is selected as the U.S. Air Force's next aerial refueling aircraft": Ducommun AeroStructures, along with a dozen other NYS companies, have been selected to "produce critical components". In 2011 Boeing duly gets the contract and the war machine is christened A-46A Pegasus. Like certain other Boeing aircraft, the plane has been "riddled with technical issues". (In 2022 the Defense Department announced a contract with Boeing for 4 Pegasus tankers, for direct delivery to Israel by 2026.)
  
• 2010: American Metal Market reports that "under an initial $12-million contract, the Ducommun Aerostructures facility in Coxsackie, N.Y., will furnish 360 titanium subassemblies and components to Tighitco Inc. for the U.S. Army's H-60M Black Hawk helicopter that's being built by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. subsidiary of United Technologies Corp."
• 2010: "Ducommun Incorporated today announced that its Ducommun AeroStructures, Inc. (DAS) subsidiary has been awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for the V-22 Osprey titanium longeron assemblies." The V-22 is a multirole combat aircraft. At the end of September 2024 the US Air Force announced its deployment of three additional squadrons to the Middle East, with V-22s and AH-1Zs said to be among their equipment.

Woodstock/Gaza

What is the extent of Woodstock's complicity in the slaughter in Gaza? As usual we must stress that very few of Ametek Rotron's weapons contracts happen to reach the public domain. But we do know that Woodstock's largest employer has regularly shipped spare parts directly to the Israeli Defense Ministry and Air Force, and has continued to do so after the current assault on Gaza began. We know that made-in-Woodstock components are essential (often deemed "Critical Application Items" in Pentagon-speak) in:

• all the delivery mechanisms for the bombs (F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, drones, Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, shipboard missile systems . . .)
• the navigation and guidance systems that direct the bombs to their targets
• the communications systems that run the whole battlefield
• military helicopters
• spy drones and spy planes such as the EP-3E
  
• Abrams, Bradley and Merkava tanks
  
• the M-113 armored personnel carriers that are prominent enforcers of oppression in the West Bank.

Rotron has also boasted in the past that it's a supplier for Israeli weapons manufactirers IAI Rafael.

War profiteers

Ametek beats profit estimates on strong demand from aerospace, defense sectors

This was the headline of a May 2 Reuters story about Ametek Rotron's parent corporation, Ametek Inc. The story explains that Ametek has 'benefited from a boom in the aerospace and defense sectors. Robust air travel demand and simmering geopolitical tensions have driven up demand from the sectors, one of the biggest contributors to Ametek's revenue'. 

Among the company's increased profits of war are the proceeds of its Rotron division's sales to the Israeli military even as the assault on Gaza escalated.

Meanwhile Ametek SCP (another division of Ametek's Aerospace and Defense group, based in Westerly, RI) won a share in a $9,676,177 contract on May 29 from the US Navy. This is for components for the Navy's nuclear-powered (and often nuclear-armed) attack submrines which underpin US military domination of the oceans. Ametek SCP seems to be a regular supplier of bits and pieces for the Navy. A June 15 contract for parts for Virginia class submarines was worth $1,497,360. Similar contracts followed on July 14 for $358,176 and on July 18 for $433,542.

Made-in-Woodstock components in military aircraft

Some of Ametek Rotron's promotional material showing their components which are essential for the functioning of warmaking aircraft -- here, the Predator drone and the F-18 Hornet.

Source: https://www.rotron.com/markets/military-aircraft

Woodstock at a time of genocide

Some of the many military aircraft that depend on made-in-Woodstock components -- from our local weapons contractor's own promotional materials.

IAI stands for Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael is Israel's largest arms manufacturer.

F-15s and F-16s are favorite bomb delivery methods of the Israeli Occupation Forces, and hundreds of C-130 flights continue to ferry US-made weapons and ammunition to fuel Israel's assault on Gaza.

As we saw in our previous post, Woodstock is rushing spare parts directly to the Israeli Defense Ministry. And Ametek Rotron have also listed Merkava, the Israeli tank manufacturer, as a customer.

 

80% of our business is military

Woodstock's largest employer is usually reticent about how many of its contracts are military. But in May 2023 the Divisional Vice President at Ametek Rotron told an interviewer: "We only have 20% of our business commercial, 80% is military and defense." This figure is up from the only other figure we have which dates from the 1990s when a Harvard Business School study reported that 60% of Rotron's business was military.

The  boss of the Woodstock plant also provided a succinct summary of Rotron's business: "Predominantly the Woodstock plant provides fans and air moving equipment, basically for fighter jets or tanks, or some of the commercial aircraft too, and some of those fans go into electronics cooling equipment for naval applications like submarines, so that is pretty much the scope of work that happens out of my Rotron facilities in Woodstock and San Diego."

Israeli military seeks another made-in-Woodstock fan

On October 16, as Israel pursued its ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of civilians in Gaza, its Ministry of Defense invited tenders for a "sample" 200AC fan "made by Rotron Inc." Ametek Rotron's contributions to foreign militaries mostly fly under the radar -- we've reported on their sales to Israel before -- but this request, unusually, turned up online. It's just one fan, but the word "sample" suggests that more will follow, and it confirms that the Israeli military continues to rely on made-in-Woodstock components as it violates international law. The government set a quick deadline of Nov. 1, suggesting the fan(s) are to be used soon.

We know that made-in-Woodstock Rotron fans are used in many of the advanced weapons systems deployed by Israel and supplied by the US -- warplanes, tanks, rocket launchers, military helicopters, drones, armed personnel carriers, and warships.

The procurement notice was published by Al Bawaba, a Jordan-based news site (paywall) and also by Bidsinfo.

Business as usual

 It's a long time since this blog has reported on the latest sales of weapons system components by Woodstock's largest employer, Ametek Rotron. Even fewer of their contracts seem to leave online traces than before, but here are a few items from recent months, gleaned from Nexis, that are doubtless typical of Woodstock's ongoing contributions to worldwide warfare:

• August 2022: Rotron provides the US Naval Sea Systems Command with components for two new submarine tenders (support ships for nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines). These items are "of a critical nature" and no-one else makes an equivalent product.
• August 2022: "The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Technology Application Contracting Office (TAKO) anticipates contracting on a sole source basis with Ametek-Rotron" for "Avionics Cockpit Blowers" -- "the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements."
•  December 2022: Bharat Electronics, an Indian Government-owned military contractor, orders a "high speed fan" made by Ametek Rotron.
•  December 2022: The Defense Department wants to order "Blower, Blade; H-60" -- an aircraft component. This is an open solicitation but Ametek Rotron is the only listed supplier.
  

Another Woodstock contribution to attacks on civilians in Yemen

We've reported before on Woodstock's Ametek Rotron supplying crucial components to the Saudi Air Force for its war crimes in Yemen. Here's more evidence: photos that appeared on social media after Houthi rebels shot down a US drone in October 2017 clearly show its made-in-Woodstock component:

US drone shot down by #Houthi missile in #Yemen's capital Sanaa on Sunday morning, Xinhua reports citing #Houthi officials and residents

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) October 1, 2017

The US Atomics MQ-9 Reaper came down in a crowded area of Sanaa. According to Military Times, which reported the incident, "The MQ-9 is predominately an armed hunter-killer drone but the unmanned aircraft is also capable of surveillance and intelligence collection."

As the Yemeni civilians in the picture stare at the downed drone they see the yellow label of its component that reads "AMETEK ROTRON/Woodstock, NY". Do they thank Woodstock for this gift? Do they still think of Woodstock as a town of peace and music?
pic.twitter.com/EyGirr94RK