Missouri plant still at war work

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- A plant in this southwest Missouri town that once made launching canisters for Patriot missiles is making a new breed of hardware for the country's latest war.

A lot has changed since the United States attacked Iraq in 1991 following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Canisters for the Scud-seeking Patriot missiles have not been assembled at Systems & Electronics Inc.'s West Plains plant for almost three years.

Instead, the St. Louis-based company has focused on its "mainstays" -- aircraft loaders and artillery transport trailers, which are being used by U.S. troops advancing toward Baghdad in a renewed effort to topple Hussein's regime.

SEI is the third-largest employer in West Plains with 500 workers. It ranks behind Ozarks Medical Center, which employs about 1,100, and Marathon Electric, which has about 650 workers, said Chris Norman, the city's economic development director.

When West Plains Councilman Bob Burtrum tells people that the SEI plant manufactures hardware for the U.S. military, they are usually surprised.

"A lot of people don't realize that until you do tell them," he said. "That's one of our good points that we can bring up."

They have made a lot of equipment for the U.S. government. It's a big part of the community."

The company has diversified its product line in recent years, but has consistently contracted with the U.S. Air Force for aircraft loaders, said Ken Beicke, vice President of operations. The vehicles, called Tunners, are versatile and capable of lifting 60,000 pounds of cargo.

"This is not your run-of-the-mill thing you'd see sitting around an airport," Beicke said. "It's a pretty sophisticated piece of hardware."

Before the Tunner, which emerged during the previous Gulf war, the Air Force struggled to load and unload heavy equipment onto large cargo planes used to cart the instruments of war across the Atlantic Ocean.

"We have these in Kuwait City," Beicke said. "We had them in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan. These are deployed worldwide, and we've manufactured about 230 of them here."

The company landed a $67 million contract with the Air Force in February to build Tunners that will be delivered between April 2004 and spring 2005.

SEI also manufactures trailers used to transport artillery, munitions and tanks from staging areas to the front line. The M1000 Heavy Equipment Transport and the M989A1 Heavy Expanded Mobility Ammunition Trailer (HEMAT) are also in high demand.