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Two Dayton-Area Companies Win Big Defense Contracts

The US Air Force has awarded a major contract to two Dayton companies, Matrix Research and Lion-Vallen Industries.

Dayton-area contractors are getting business despite cuts to the overall military budget.

Matrix Research develops sensors and high-tech materials—in this case, for stealth military aircraft. The company will get $45,085,000 to work on improving the the Air Force fleet through marginal technology upgrades; the award was announced Friday by the Air Force Institute of Technology based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Company officials wouldn’t comment, but this is a big score for Matrix—for comparison, $45 million is about the same amount of revenue the city of Fairborn expects to bring in this year.

On the same day, Lion-Vallen announced a $20,609,800 contract from the Marine Corps to maintain storage facilities across the country.

Total defense contracts granted in Ohio have been declining because of federal budget cuts, which means the market is getting more competitive overall.

Even with declines, contractors are still taking home far more than they were before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: every year since 2006, the Defense Department has granted more than $300 billion to private companies.

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