Governor M. Jodi Rell and her nominee to be the new Executive Director of the Office of Military Affairs, Bob Ross, today noted that June and July have been especially good months for defense contractors and other businesses in Connecticut, with hundreds of millions of dollars in defense work going to companies large and small.

“Stratford-based Sikorsky just picked up a contract option worth as much as $52 million for spare parts for numerous aircraft types operated by the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines, while Superior Electric Company in Farmington received a $20 million contract for voltage regulators for the Navy,” Governor Rell said. “And a division of Aetna won a contract worth more than $2.8 billion to provide managed care services for the military health care program TRICARE for all of 19 states, parts of three others plus the District of Columbia. If all options are exercised – including five, one-year extensions – that deal could be worth as much as $16.7 billion.

“Other companies have received contracts for projects ranging from new AIM-9X missiles to building projects at Navy bases to engineering services,” the Governor said. “Credit is due to the excellent and highly competitive work performed by these companies and to the efforts of our Congressional delegation to make sure all that hard work does not go unnoticed by the Department of Defense.

“My Administration, our members of Congress and the rest of ‘Team Connecticut’ remain deeply concerned about the fate of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which is powered by engines made by Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney,” Governor Rell said. “The loss of funding for this fighter – which is needed to replace aging jets like the F-15 – could have a serious impact on the skilled, experienced defense supply chain here in Connecticut and around the nation. Across the country, almost 100,000 jobs have a direct or indirect link to the F-22 program. That is a fact we cannot – and will not – forget.

“We must also remember, however, that despite the struggling economy there is also good news about Connecticut’s defense industry,” the Governor said. “It has long been a mainstay of our state’s economy – and so it remains.”

The total in Connecticut defense contracting for the first seven months of 2009 – including both work to be performed by Connecticut companies and work to be performed at facilities in Connecticut – was $4.8 billion. That compares with total Connecticut defense contracting of $1.83 billion for the first seven months of 2008.