LIMESTONE – New work contracts with the U.S. Army announced last week will bring between 170 and 240 more jobs to the Maine Military Authority’s Readiness Sustainment Maintenance Center at the Loring Commerce Centre, Gov. John Baldacci announced Thursday.

The two contracts to refurbish more than 1,100 Humvees for active Army units will bring $39.3 million to the facility and increase the current work force of 319 people by more than half.

“These contracts call for complete overhauls of the HMMWVs [Humvees] for active military units,” Chief Warrant Officer Gary Cleaves, general manager of the Loring facility, said Thursday. “They are various models coming back from some deployment, and need work before going back into service.

“We will start advertising within days to get 170 people to get this going quickly,” he said. “The vehicles will start arriving here in two or three weeks.”

Cleaves said none of the work includes armoring the vehicles because the kits needed to armor the vehicles are not available. He told The Associated Press 300 of the vehicles will have beefed-up suspensions and engines in order to accommodate being armored.

The new jobs, which will pay an average of $30,000 a year, will include mechanics and supply and administration people.

The one-year contract will see the refurbishing of 1,168 vehicles.

“Maine operates the most cost-effective rebuild facility in the United States,” the governor said. “With the proven quality of the work force, their capability to meet contract deadlines, and the innovative work processes which lead to cost savings, the site sold itself.

“There is no limit to what can be accomplished here,” the governor said.

News of the coming contracts was leaked by the governor last week when he was addressing a summit of Aroostook County municipal leaders.

The Loring facility opened in 1997 with 25 employees. The new employees could bring that number to 500 workers at the facility.

The facility, which is managed by the Maine Army National Guard, repairs and refurbishes military vehicles such as military Humvees, field ambulances, troop movement trucks, howitzers, 5-ton cargo trucks, tractors, and field kitchens.

When the Maine Military Authority started its project at Loring, it had one production line in two buildings. Today the facility operates four program lines in eight buildings.

The average refurbishment cost of a Humvee at Loring is just over $21,000, while the replacement cost of the unit is listed at more than $77,000. It has been estimated that the facility has saved the military $166 million since it opened.

The annual payroll at the facility is more than $13 million. It also purchases parts locally for more than $21 million and pays overhead cost of more than $2.1 million a year.

Baldacci said he hopes the facility can become a demonstration site for the private sector, to show the viability and unlimited potential of Maine manufacturing facilities.

“We want to make Aroostook County a jumping-off point for the world,” the governor said. “We are running an environmentally sound, enormously efficient manufacturing facility in northern Maine, serving National Guard and active Army units all over the country and the world.”