New defense contract to boost employment at SNC

Sierra Nevada Corp. will add 10 workers at a Sparks production facility after winning a defense contract, and the number of new workers could triple.

The company said last week it won a $36.5 million contract to make equipment designed to protect U.S. soldiers from the improvised explosives they encounter in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The equipment to be manufactured by Sierra Nevada Corp. relies on electronic jammers to prevent radio-controlled detonation of the roadside bombs and other explosives.

Fatih Ozmen, chief executive officer of the company, said the contract includes options that could bring the total value of the contract to more than $248.3 million. The equipment will be used by each of the military services within the U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East and Central Asia.

Renee Velasco, corporate director of mergers and acquisitions for Sierra Nevada Corp., said, "This is a technology that saves lives, and we feel good about that."

She noted the company won the contract in competitive bidding that involved major defense contractors.

Sierra Nevada Corp. decided within the past year to focus its production operations at its Nevada facilities, and the equipment to be produced under the new contract will be integrated, packaged and delivered from a Sierra Nevada facility in Sparks.

If the Department of Defense exercises its option to purchase the full $248.3 million worth of the devices, the company could add about 30 workers in northern Nevada, Velasco said.

Sparks-based Sierra Nevada Corp. employs more than 1,600 people in 31 locations and 20 states. Along with defense contracts, the company handles work in fields such as electronics, space, micro-satellite, telemedicine and nanotechnology.