Casey, Houlahan have fought for years to keep the plant open and to bring new work to the facility
Members wrote to Air Force opposing Navy divestment in CH-46 and urging exploration of new work in the aircraft
Arrival of four CH-46 in Coatesville for modernization could lead to up to 200 additional jobs at the Coatesville plant
Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6) announced the arrival of four CH-46 helicopters at the Coatesville Piasecki Aircraft facility through Piasecki’s helicopter remanufacturing program. The arrival of these four CH-46 helicopters represents an entirely new line of work for the manufacturing facility—resetting helicopters. Over time, the remanufacturing project could create as many as 200 new jobs maintaining, servicing, and supporting the modernization of the fleet. Piasecki’s plant in Coatesville has employed generations of Chester County workers, creating world-class aircrafts critical to American commercial and military operations around the world.
“For generations, Pennsylvanians have served their country and supported their families by manufacturing military helicopters at this Coatesville facility. I fought to support Piasecki’s helicopter remanufacturing because nobody is more up to the task of maintaining our Nation’s military aircrafts than the workers here in Southeastern Pennsylvania,” said Senator Casey. “This is a new chapter for Coatesville and I’ll keep fighting to make sure these jobs are here to stay.”
"Piasecki, with its state-of-the-art manufacturing and robust tech workforce, is a driving force of revitalization in Coatesville," said Representative Houlahan. "Now, with the announcement of the production of CH-46 helicopters and additional jobs being created, our region will continue to lead the way in domestic aviation manufacturing. I look forward to seeing Piasecki grow and will continue to do everything I can to support that."
These 200 new jobs include engineering, manufacturing, flight test, delivery, maintenance, and support to convert civilian Model 107-II and excess military CH-46 helicopters into Model 107-III helicopters for, respectively, commercial customers and partnered and allied nations.
Senator Casey and Representative Houlahan have repeatedly fought to keep aircraft manufacturing and maintenance jobs in Coatesville. When President Trump failed to deliver on his promise to keep open Coatesville plant (formerly known as the Sikorsky helicopter plant) in 2019, Casey and Houlahan took swift action to ensure that the plant could keep the 465 workers whose jobs were at risk and fought for long term solutions. Thanks to the members’ staunch advocacy, Lockheed Martin was able to keep the Coatesville facility open for three additional years. When the plant ultimately closed in August 2022, the members championed Piasecki’s takeover, securing $23 million in federal funding to support the company’s work in Chester County over the past five fiscal years. Since, Senator Casey and Representative Houlahan have worked tirelessly to ensure that the plant can remain a reliable source of good jobs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The new CH-46 remanufacturing program is another step to ensure that Coatesville will remain a reliable source of aircraft manufacturing and maintenance jobs. Senator Casey pushed for these Coatesville jobs by advocating for the Department of the Navy to pause their divestment and instead potentially reset and sell these CH-46 helicopters to allied and partner nations.
The induction of the CH-46 helicopters and implementation of Piasecki’s helicopter remanufacturing program continues Coatesville’s legacy as a premier helicopter manufacturing site by promoting new jobs to Southeastern Pennsylvania.
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