Governor M. Jodi Rell today issued the following statement after Colt Defense LLC of West Hartford received a $17.6 million contract for 3,108 M240B machine guns for the U.S. military:

“I want to congratulate Colt Defense on this contract, which is great news for the company, its employees and Connecticut’s defense industry. The M240B is a widely used weapon – popular not only among American troops but also with our allies – and has gotten extremely positive reviews from soldiers and Marines who have used it in Afghanistan and Iraq. I am proud that Connecticut and Colt will once again be supporting our Armed Forces, continuing a tradition that dates to Colt’s founding in 1836.”