The Mohawk Valley firearm manufacturer Remington Arms has won a contract worth nearly $50 million supplying the Philippine military. The contract comes amidst lingering concerns the factory will leave the state.
Remington will provide 50,000 R4 carbine rifles to the Philippine defense forces by the end of next year. Rep. Richard Hanna, (R - Barneveld), said the work on the rifles will be done in upstate New York.
The majority of the work will be done in Ilion, but parts may be sourced from elsewhere, Joseph Bolmarcich, who oversees contracts for Remington, confirmed.
It’s the second big contract Remington has announced this year since New York state passed new gun control laws. Those laws banned the sale – but not manufacture and export – of some guns Remington makes in Ilion, east of Utica.
The law’s passage sparked a flurry of approaches from other states courting the gun maker to leave New York. Rumors of the factory moving south have been constant, as it was reported in August Remington's corporate owners were scouting sites in Tennessee.
Remington’s parent company, North Carolina-based Freedom Group, has been fairly mum on the prospect.
Some smaller gun makers in New York have already packed up and left this year.
Remington has been making rifles in the Mohawk Valley for nearly two centuries. It employs more than 1,300 people in a town not much bigger.
