DRS Technologies closing Rugged Systems facility

Move comes year after acquisition

LONGMONT — Rugged Systems, the Longmont-based manufacturer of military and battlefield computers, is packing up the gear and moving to Johnstown, Pa.

Citing an aggressive program of acquisitions and a desire to cut overhead costs, parent company DRS Technologies dissolved the Longmont plant it purchased last February from NAI Technologies.

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Most of the 80 employees at the facility will lose their jobs; 20 employees will make the move to Pennsylvania. The Longmont plant, largely a manufacturing facility, will shut its doors in April.

Company officials said those not relocating to Pennsylvania will receive job-placement assistance.

“One of our goals is to find synergy in operations we have and with the ones we’ve acquired,” DRS spokeswoman Pat Williamson said.

The company has built a large facility in Pennsylvania to accommodate the combined forces from a series of new acquisitions. Productivity and efficiency will increase with the company’s engineering, design and manufacturing center under one roof, Williamson added.

She also added that this move reduces the duplication of effort in management and design, enhancing their ability to compete in the long term.

DRS sells portable and stationary computers able to withstand the stress and pressures of war to military organizations around the globe.

Williamson said the small transition will not affect DRS’s customers worldwide.