BUFFALO, N.Y. — Western New York has a rich history when it comes to aviation, and a company that's new to Buffalo is adding another chapter to that legacy.
Defense contractor RED-INC held a ribbon cutting Thursday and showed off their space.
The company is headquartered in Maryland, but the Buffalo division is developing new technology — hardware and software — to make aircraft maintenance easier, faster, and more efficient.
Some of RED-INC's biggest contracts are with the Navy and Marine Corps, and the things they create can increase the mission rate for the military.
One device they developed aligns helicopter parts with 100 times more accuracy than doing it by hand. Another solution they created aligns a plane's engine and transmission using sensors. That job can now be done in 30 minutes and with more precision instead of the 10+ hours and two people it used to take to do that job.
There are 17 people working out of RED-INC's 6,000 square foot space in Larkinville.
The company's goal is to have at least 50 employees in the next two to three years. The company said it's tapping into a talented workforce in Western New York to fill job openings.
"Once I found out there was a community of very talented engineers, software engineers, developers, and gamers which is a very important part of our company, I realized this would be an excellent place to start and build our engineering, prototyping and fabrication capability for the work we're doing for the Department of Defense," said Leo Kilgore, division leader for RED-INC in Buffalo.
RED-INC has 14 projects lined up now, and nine of them are already in various stages of development.