SOUTH WINDSOR – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced that Capewell Aerial Systems, LLC, is this week’s “Murphy’s Monday Manufacturer.” In 1881, Capewell was founded in Hartford, Connecticut, as a mass producer of horseshoe nails. Today, Capewell operates out of a facility in South Windsor where they manufacture a wide range of aviation, safety, and tactical products for the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Guard, law enforcement agencies, and humanitarian agencies worldwide. With the help of 60 hardworking Connecticut residents, Capewell specializes in manufacturing and distributing hardware for heavy-duty parachute air deliveries, safety vests and harnesses, emergency breathing systems, flotation devices, helmets, and Emergency Descent Devices that allow pilots, passengers, and crewmembers to safely lower themselves to the ground in situations where ramps or stairs are unavailable. The company also operates a facility in Virginia.
Over the years, Capewell has expanded their capabilities and become a world-renowned supplier of safety equipment. The company set a new record with their Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform, which allows as many as ten individuals to be rescued at once. In addition, ever since the first U.S. Army Airborne parachute units were trained in 1942, U.S. military jet pilots and paratroopers have relied on Capewell’s parachute canopy releases. Capewell’s Emergency Descent Devices are also standard equipment on many commercial airplanes, and will soon be standard equipment for pilots and crewmembers of the U.S. Air Force’s new KC-46 Pegasus Tanker – a multirole tanker that will be powered by a Connecticut-made engine.
“For more than 130 years, Capewell has been a leader in Connecticut manufacturing,” said Murphy. They are in the business of lifelines—equipping our military personnel and rescue workers with the body armor that keeps them safe and ensuring families in humanitarian crises around the world receive the air-delivered food and water they need to survive. Their hardworking employees make our state proud.”
Capewell Aerial Systems, LLC, said, “Capewell Aerial has been able to succeed in Connecticut because of the outstanding technical capabilities of our engineers and technicians. In addition, our highly skilled labor force takes pride in quality, craftsmanship, and making the best products in the world for the soldier, airman, and seaman. Connecticut has been our home for 135 years and we hope to stay another 135...and beyond.”
The manufacturing industry plays a crucial role throughout Connecticut communities, creating new jobs and accelerating our state’s economic recovery. Today, Connecticut’s 4,602 manufacturers account for 10.2% of the state’s jobs and 87% of the state’s total exports. In order to protect and grow manufacturing jobs in Connecticut, Murphy has introduced two pieces of legislation that aim to strengthen existing standards and prioritize the purchase of American-made goods, the 21st Century Buy American Act and the American Jobs Matter Act.
