BENNINGTON – The U.S. military has expanded its contract with Plasan North America and its partner Oshkosh Corp. with a new order for almost 1,500 armored vehicles in a deal that's worth $170 million to Plasan.

In a press release, Wisconsin-based Oshkosh announced last week that the total value for the new contract for mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles, known as M-ATVs, was $640 million. Since the first contract, awarded in July, Oshkosh has received orders valued at more than $4.74 billion that include more than 8,000 M-ATVs, spare parts kits and support for the vehicles in the field.

Plasan spokesman Don Goldberg of Qorvis Communications confirmed on Monday that Plasan's piece of the latest contract is worth $170 million.

Plasan North America is also planning a small expansion at the site it owns on Bowen Road. The manufacturer will appear before the Bennington Development Review Board with its plan to add a 4,500-square-foot addition.

Bennington Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Dan Monks said the plan is for office space and a conference room, designed by Blaze Design Inc. of Shaftsbury, at a cost of about $800,000.

Monks said the application may be considered a minor change to the existing site and added it could be approved at the meeting scheduled for March 16.

Goldberg said the expansion was simply the company expanding its capacity to fulfill what have been continually expanding contracts.

"The most important thing to Plasan is that they have been hitting their milestones month after month. The challenge in meeting the requirements for a contract like this, just in terms of things like getting the machinery to where it's needed to really meet the demand, is one of the biggest challenges in the industry," Goldberg said.

On Feb. 23, the same day Oshkosh announced the latest addition to the contract, Plasan announced it had delivered its 5,000th armor kit for the M-ATVs to the U.S. military, meeting another deadline in its contract. The company has met all of its delivery milestones for seven consecutive months, according to Plasan.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called the announcement "an important milestone of double significance" for employees of the Bennington plant.

"They've shown their mastery of a project that demands hard work and honed skills. Most important of all, their work means that armor kits are reaching more American soldiers, some of them no doubt Vermonters. They need and deserve this added protection," Leahy said by e-mail.

Leahy, who is the senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee, has been given credit as a key reason the contract to produce M-ATVs was awarded to a company that has a partner in Vermont.

M-ATVs are expected to be a major component of the current deployment of soldiers in Afghanistan. In that country, improvised explosive devices, called IEDs, have presented an ongoing threat to the lives and safety of U.S. soldiers just as they did in Iraq.

The terrain in Afghanistan, however, is rougher than in Iraq, which left the military looking for a lighter, more maneuverable armored vehicle than what had been used in Iraq.

In July, the military announced a contract with Oshkosh and Plasan that would employ their solution to the problem.

Plasan is an Israeli company whose engineers are veterans of the Israel Defense Forces. Dan Ziv, president and CEO of Plasan, said in a statement that he believed that made a difference to the manufacturer's operations.

"As soldiers building for soldiers, Plasan understands the vital need for armor solutions," he said.

Bennington resident Sheri Loomis said last year that she and other Plasan North America employees keep pictures on a wall in the factory of friends and relatives, like her sons, Sgt. Olin Harrington, who is with the U.S. Army in Iraq, and Sgt. Jeremy Harrington, who is part of the recent Vermont National Guard deployment to Afghanistan, to remind themselves of the importance of their work.

The Plasan North America plant employs about 220 people. The company also has a manufacturing plant, Plasan Carbon Composites, in Bennington. That plant, which makes automobile parts, employs about 120 people.

patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com