Continues Search For Javelin Funding, But Development On
Hold
Aviation Technology Group gave walking papers to 40 of its 50
workers at Denver's Centennial Airport on Monday, as the company
struggles to obtain funding to continue development of the Javelin
very-light jet.
"We told them that because of the issues with our funding, we
had no other choice than to let them go at this point in time, that
we had meetings with our partners this week and will see how we can
continue," Board member Horst Bergmann told The Denver Post.
As ANN reported, last month
ATG gave its employees a mandatory week-off following the
Thanksgiving holiday, as the company worked with Citigroup to
secure additional funding. The company hired the investment bank
this year to search for roughly $200 million in new funding, but so
far has proven unsuccessful.
That puts ATG and its partner, Israel Aerospace Industries, in a
serious bind. The company has over 100 orders for the two-seat
Javelin 100, and has collected $25,000 deposits on those orders.
Bergmann said ATG is keeping those orders on books, "until we know
which way we are going to go."
IAI also planned to develop a military-spec version of the
tandem-seat Javelin -- which resembles a 3/5-scale fighter jet --
for sale to foreign markets as a trainer or light attack aircraft.
ATG plans to meet with IAI this week, in hopes of securing more
money.
Bergmann said ATG told the laid off workers if they find another
job, "they should really try to grab it, and we are going to help
them in doing that."
"I cannot really say how the meetings will go this week —
that's the difficulty," Bergmann said. "It was not a good day for
ATG, especially, you know, the time of year, but we have been
trying very, very hard. We had no other choice to do what we had to
do because it was more and more difficult now to have 50
employees."
For the moment, ATG "is still operating, but that may change one
way or the other this week or this month," he added.
In an official statement to ANN Tuesday evening, ATG said it has
stopped development work on the Javelin, pending additional
money... adding quick action on more funding is "unlikely."
"ATG, with the help from a Wall Street banking institution, has
been seeking funding to continue its Javelin high performance
business jet and military trainer for the past 12 months," the
company said. "Due to circumstances beyond ATG's control, it is
unlikely that adequate funding can be secured in a timely
manner.
"ATG has therefore decided to halt development of the Javelin at
this time. Further action will be decided upon after proper
communication with our strategic business partner."