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

$870 for a shim

In one of its smaller recent military contracts, Woodstock's Ametek Rotron is charging US taxpayers $870 for a shim, to be delivered to the Defense Logistics Agency's Aviation division in Richmond, VA. The contract was posted on January 8. $870 for a shim -- "a thin and often tapered or wedged piece of material, used to fill small gaps or spaces between objects" (Wikipedia) -- nice work if you can get it. 

$8,248,508

… That's the dollar amount of Defense Department business for Woodstock's weapons contractor in Fiscal Year 2018, according to usaspending.gov: Ametek Rotron's Woodstock, NY, weapons components plant received $2,037,271 in prime awards (where Rotron is the Pentagon's prime contractor), and $6,211,237 in sub-awards (where Rotron is a subcontractor).

M88 Hercules

2018 awards include $1,786,530 for parts for the M88 Hercules Armored Recovery Vehicle (pictured here at work in Afghanistan); $27,672 for parts for the MC-130H Combat Talon Aircraft, which the Air Force says "provides infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces and equipment in hostile or denied territory"; and many others.

MC-130H

As for the subcontracts, usaspending tells us that Rotron was a supplier in 2018 for most of the big names in weapons technology: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, GE Aviation Systems, Sikorsky, L3 Technologies, DRS Laurel Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and BAE.

Kellstrom Defense Aerospace: distributing made-in-Woodstock war machine components worldwide

In 2018, AMETEK Aerospace and Defense Thermal Management Systems division -- which includes the Ametek Rotron factory in Woodstock -- approved Kellstrom Defense Aerospace as its authorized military distributor for its Hughes-Treitler and Rotron products. "With the signing of this agreement, KDA is approved to solicit military spares and repair business globally, excluding Israel and Japan," says the press release.

UH-60 Black Hawk

This partnership "provides AMETEK with a worldwide network of sales professionals, distribution channels, and MRO capabilities that further enhances our global reach."

A Kellstrom brochure, boasting that "Kellstrom Defense is the respected global leader for defense aircraft sustainment", lists some of the "Supported Platforms" for the Rotron products which they are now touting to militaries worldwide: "C-130 [military transport aircraft], UH-1, UH-60, CH-53, CH-47, S-70 [these are various military helicopters made by Sikorsky, Bell, and Boeing], all land vehicles, and sea vessels".