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NIAR tells Commerce Committee MRO work has grown to ~1,000 staff and students, cites bomber repair and large ROI estimates
Summary
John Tomlin of NIAR told the committee that Wichita State’s NIAR has grown an MRO workforce to roughly 1,000 staff and students, described successful B‑1 bomber repair work that drew Pentagon attention, and presented illustrative return-on-investment figures for future bomber sustainment contracting.
John Tomlin, representing NIAR at Wichita State, presented the committee with a multi-part overview of the center’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activity and its local economic impact.
Tomlin traced the MRO program’s origin to 2018, when he said NIAR hired about 55 engineers to prevent layoffs at an OEM and launched an MRO effort. He described growth from about 100 staff in 2019 to roughly 1,000 staff and students by 2025, supported in part by a $35 million state appropriation spread over five years. Tomlin characterized NIAR as an economic-development arm of Wichita State that has attracted both commercial and military MRO contracts and said its research output positions it as a…
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