EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar presented over a million dollars of funding to support defense manufacturers in the Borderland. <\/p>\n
In a presentation held on Tuesday at TNT Tooling, Inc., a machine shop in West El Paso, Rep. Escobar presented El Paso Makes, a subsidiary of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), a check for $1,031,000 from a federal Community Project grant.<\/p>\n
According to a news release<\/a>, the money will go toward an initiative that will help small and medium-sized manufacturers in El Paso beef up their defense manufacturing.<\/p>\n “The work funded through this project will focus on fabricating critical drone components, specifically flight controllers,” said David Espalin, Ph.D., Director of El Paso Makes. “It builds on the success of our initial phase, where we connected a local Tier 1 Department of Defense supplier with small and medium-sized manufacturers to create a digital cloud infrastructure for producing missile components. In this next phase, we\u2019re expanding that network and developing a digital twin to simulate the full production process.”<\/p>\n Speaking with KFOX14\/CBS4, Escobar said she hopes El Paso could retain and attract talent by hopefully becoming a defense and aerospace manufacturing hub thanks to initiatives like this. <\/p>\n Escobar also highlighted ARC Aerospace, a company co-founded and run by Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri, which she said has been recruiting engineers back to the region. <\/p>\n RELATED: New aerospace plant expected to open in West El Paso in 2027<\/a><\/p>\n “ARC has already recruited back over 20 engineers for high-paying jobs,” Escobar said. “These are El Pasoans who are coming back to be a part of this greater vision.”<\/p>\n Escobar pointed out that global conflicts, such as the Iran war– which she has been against<\/a>— have increased the demand for munitions; however, the U.S. is not producing munitions fast enough to meet demand, but this is “where El Paso comes in.”<\/p>\n “With federal funding… we are getting El Paso on the map,” Escobar said.<\/p>\n About El Paso Makes<\/p>\n Established in 2023 and managed by the NCDMM, El Paso Makes connects manufacturers in El Paso and West Texas with suppliers, technical expertise, and research resources needed to compete in high-demand defense and aerospace markets.<\/p>\n For more information, visit ElPasoMakes.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n About TNT Tooling, Inc.<\/p>\n TNT Tooling Inc. is a machine shop located at 4718 Osborne Dr., that has partnered with El Paso Makes. <\/p>\n For more information, visit TNT Tooling’s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n About ARC Aerospace<\/p>\n ARC Aerospace draws on Choudhuri’s 27-plus years of academic research and technology development in aerospace and defense systems, bringing together students, mentees and staff from the Aerospace Center he founded at the University of Texas at El Paso. <\/p>\n For more information, visit ARC Aerospace’s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n As you may remember, Choudhuri was investigated after allegations were made that he had made an untrue statement for a National Science Foundation research project grant application for $160 million for the University of Texas at El Paso’s Aerospace Center.<\/p>\n After a two-year investigation, Choudhuri was cleared, but by then it was too late, the grant had been suspended and Choudhuri had retired <\/p>\n RELATED: Investigation clears UTEP professor in NSF aerospace grant, but El Paso loses funding<\/a><\/p>\n