This is sure to be very good news for Central Florida’s Simulation & Training industry, if just a fraction of the arms sales include new aircraft, tank, or shipboard simulators and associated training devices.
By David Smith
There is a quote attributed to Everett Dirksen (1896-1969), a Republican Senator from Illinois, that is currently playing out in Central Florida’s Simulation & Training industry.
“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking about real money.”
The election of Donald J. Trump renewed optimism for growth in the local Simulation & Training industry based upon his campaign promise to refit, rebuild and grow our U.S. armed forces.
Good news comes in many forms, but two recent announcements may have Central Floridians who work at Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, Raytheon, Cubic Corporation, Northrup Grumman and more than a hundred other small businesses, cheering for Senator Dirksen.
Recent college graduates, and their parents, may also want to pay attention to large employer’s websites for new job opportunities.
At a recent meeting held in the Central Florida Research Park with Simulation & Training business development executives and local U.S. Army and Marine Corps officers, Mr. Joseph A. Giunta, the Army’s Principle Assistant Responsible for Contracting, casually announced that the U.S. Army had made the decision to move a billion dollars’ worth of contracts to Orlando.
He told the crowd of about two hundred, that some of the new work was existing contracts and that some of the contracts would be competed and awarded by his organization, U.S. Army Contracting Command – Orlando.
Mr. Giunta also told the crowd that much of the new work was associated with Foreign Military Sales. This news was welcomed by the business executives, because FMS contracts tend to have slightly higher profit margins.
In addition to the contracts being awarded out of Orlando, if the Program Management responsibility also moves to the Army’s local Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STR), Central Floridians should expect to see more hiring at the Research Park.
Most annual salaries there average at around $80,000.
Perhaps the news with the largest potential impact on the Simulation & Training industry was the recent announcement of a ten year, $350 billion dollar arms sale agreement between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This is sure to be very good news for Central Florida’s Simulation & Training industry, if just a fraction of the arms sales include new aircraft, tank, or shipboard simulators and associated training devices.
This has the potential to have a huge impact on local companies. Let’s hope Senator Dirksen was right.
David Smith is a Republican candidate for Florida House District 28. He is a retired Marine Corps Colonel who lives in Winter Springs. For the last eight years he has worked in Central Florida’s Simulation and Training industry. In this position, David provides training support to improve the combat readiness of our U.S. warfighting troops.
