VOLVO GM GETS AIR FORCE TRUCK-CONTRACT SHARE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250191
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium
VOLVO GM GETS AIR FORCE TRUCK-CONTRACT SHARE
Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. in Dublin will receive nearly half of an $89.3 million contract that the U.S. Air Force has awarded to a Pennsylvania company.
The Air Force has picked Kovatch Corp. to build 618 refueling trucks in the next five years.
Nearly $44 million of the contract will be spent at the Dublin plant. Volvo GM will build truck chassis for the trucks that will be used to refuel Air Force jets.
"This is something we're real excited about," said Ron Bierman, controller at the Dublin plant. "We have up and down periods and this helps steady our production for the next few years."
Bierman said the contract is the biggest military contract ever at the Dublin plant.
Jack Zalesak, controller for Kovatch, said the company selected Volvo GM after looking at every major manufacturer of heavy truck chassis in the country.
"Based on price and performance, they give us the best buy for the buck," he said.
Zalesak said this is the first time the two companies have teamed up a on contract.
Production of the first two prototype refuelers will be completed in August.
Those two trucks will be tested for nine months and production on the contract will begin in the fall of 1994, Bierman said.
"The contract will provide much-needed economic stimulus to an area that has been particularly burdened by recent defense reductions," said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who announced the contract Wednesday.
The Volvo GM plant has roughly 1,200 workers at its Dublin plant.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB