Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
SAPA Transmission, the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish defense contractor, has completed initial construction of a U.S. production plant in Michigan -- a 110,000-square foot facility outside of Detroit that could shake up the Pentagon's tracked vehicle transmission competitive landscape long dominated by two domestic suppliers.
On Feb. 25, the company announced it completed "initial" construction of the production plant and headquarters in Shelby Township, MI, and will focus over the next 12 months outfitting the plant with tooling and technology to develop and manufacture new transmissions for U.S. combat vehicles.
"SAPA Transmission is teamed with Michigan for the long haul," Deniz Balta, a company vice president, said in a statement. "Our investment in the state underscores our commitment to the U.S. Army and to the U.S defense industrial base."
The new facility is part of a $40 million investment over five years in the United States, according to the company. In July 2018, the Michigan Strategic Fund allocated a potential $2.6 million business development grant to SAPA Transmissions to create more than 200 jobs.
SAPA Transmission -- an arm of San Sebastian, Spain-based SAPA Placencia -- is eyeing billions of dollars of potential Army business in the coming years, including transmissions for the current Bradley family of vehicles, possibly the Abrams tank fleet and a major prize up for competition on the horizon -- the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle.
The company has developed the new ACT850 and ACT1000 transmission technology in cooperation with the Army's Ground Vehicle Systems Center. SAPA has developed fully automatic, multigear and totally mechanical transmissions, including an electronically controlled, 32-speed mechanical transmission that it argues provides superior mobility and efficiency compared to transmissions in the Army's current fleet.
The current fielded transmission in the Bradley is the Hydro Mechanically Propelled Transmission (HMPT) 800, built by L3 Technologies' L3 Combat Propulsion Systems in Muskegon, MI. Allison Transmission, Indianapolis, IN, builds the transmission for the Abrams tank.
SAPA's ACT 850 is currently undergoing performance and reliability testing by the Army in the Bradley and M109A7 Self-Propelled Howitzer.