Dieppe, N.B. company bidding on Canadian Forces contract

A Dieppe, New Brunswick manufacturer is teaming up with a U.S. company to bid on a contract to build armoured vehicles for the Canadian Forces.

Malley Industries employs about 75 people right now.

Corporate Development Manager Thomas Nisbett said if Force Protection Industries of South Carolina gets the contract, Malley Industries would do the final assembly of the new Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle, known as the Timberwolf.

That would create 120 new jobs at the Dieppe plant.

Nisbett said Malley has been working towards successfully bidding on such a contract for five years.

"It feels great to know that we have come to the stage where we can qualify to actually do some of this work and even though we haven't got this particular piece of business yet, the fact that the word is out and that we are now being seen as a company that can do this kind of work has already borne fruit with new business from other places," said Nisbett.

Four companies are bidding for the contract. Nisbett expects the Canadian government will award it by next summer at the latest.

He said the bid from Force Protection has an edge since it already builds the Timberwolf's predecessoran armoured vehicle called the Cougar, which has been in use in some of the more hostile areas in Afghanistan.