Select Page

Washington Post: Pentagon used funds for coronavirus response supplies for jet engine parts, body armor

Washington Post: Pentagon used funds for coronavirus response supplies for jet engine parts, body armor





Washington Post: Pentagon used funds for coronavirus response supplies for jet engine parts, body armor

Defense contractors were awarded “hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund, mostly for projects that have little to do with the coronavirus response” weeks after the $2 trillion stimulus package, the CARES Act, was passed in March, according to the newspaper.
Firms like Rolls-Royce and ArcelorMittal received $183 million to “maintain the shipbuilding industry” and “tens of millions of dollars” were given for space surveillance, drone and satellite technology, the Post reported. Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., a Wichita, Kansas aircraft parts business, was awarded $80 million and American Woolen Company, a manufacturer of Army dress uniform fabric in Connecticut, was awarded was awarded $2 million, according to the Post.
The newspaper also reported that some defense contractors were given the funds from the Defense Department while they were also tapped into the Paycheck Protection Program, which allocated billions of dollars in forgivable loans to the small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

CNN reached out to the Defense Department for comment on Tuesday.

The Defense Department received $1.2 billion for the National Guard’s coronavirus response through the stimulus package and an additional $1 billion was available for Defense Purchases Act purchases. In April, the Pentagon announced it would spend $75.5 million through Defense Production Act funding to ramp up production of swabs needed for coronavirus testing.





Source link