When aerospace contract manufacturer Ramar-Hall broke ground on a $5 million expansion of its Middlefield facility in late August, the ceremony also marked the public debut of the second funding round under Connecticut’s Strategic Supply Chain Initiative.
Backed by a $700,000 forgivable state loan, Ramar-Hall will add 15,000 square feet of manufacturing space to its current 30,000-square-foot facility, and create at least 10 high-paying jobs.
The Strategic Supply Chain Initiative, or SSCI, is a relatively new development incentive administered by Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development. It was conceived in late 2024 amid expectations that the incoming Trump administration would impose sweeping tariffs that could prompt manufacturers to move more production back to the United States.
The program is designed to support companies that play important roles in the supply chains of Connecticut’s core industries, including aerospace and defense, semiconductors, financial technology, life sciences, clean energy and information technology.
The state initially allocated $25 million in grants for the program and added another $25 million in early 2026, bringing its total funding to $50 million. The second round provides forgivable loans instead of grants, giving Connecticut greater leverage to ensure recipients meet their investment and hiring commitments, said Connecticut Chief Manufacturing Officer Kirti Patel.
Ten projects have been approved in the second round and are in various stages of negotiation, according to DECD. Ramar-Hall is the first to be publicly announced.
“We’re looking for companies that are looking to reshore operations, relocate to Connecticut, but also companies that already have a presence in Connecticut but are expanding production capacity,” Patel said. “It needs to move the needle on the state’s GDP, including also the net revenue to the state.”
In other words, companies seeking funds to simply update equipment or operations without expansion will not qualify. Instead, Patel said projects must hold significant potential to increase production, sales and employment, although there are no set parameters for individual deals.
Applicants submit projected capital spending and the number of jobs they expect to create over 10 years. DECD then uses an economic model to estimate the project’s potential return to the state and determine the appropriate incentive, Patel said.
Companies may apply for awards ranging from $500,000 to $5 million.
The first $25 million has been fully committed to about 24 projects, 15 of which have been publicly announced. Hanwha Aerospace, Trumpf and GKN Aerospace received the largest awards, at $2.5 million each.
When the awards were announced in 2025, state officials said Trumpf would use the funding to add a press-brake production line at its Farmington headquarters and create 63 jobs. GKN’s award was intended to help establish a 3D-printing operation at its Newington plant, bringing production performed in Sweden to Connecticut and adding about 20 employees.
The state funding is intended to generate substantially larger private investments. Companies selected during the first round have committed to spend a combined $350 million and create 650 jobs, Patel said.
Businesses that do not qualify for the supply chain program may be directed to DECD’s Manufacturing Innovation Fund, which offers incentives of up to $100,000 for equipment purchases and other upgrades.
Running out of room
Ramar-Hall, which recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, manufactures aerospace components for customers that include Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace, both RTX businesses, and Triumph Aerospace in West Hartford.
“We’re getting a lot of new business opportunities and we’ve been fortunate to get a higher percentage of contracts than we typically expect, and so because of that, we’re basically running out of space,” said George Monahan, the company’s director of quality and operations.
Ramar-Hall had already expanded by acquisition. In January 2024, it bought Hamden-based The Durol Co., which had complementary operations. Ramar-Hall continues to operate Durol’s 10,000-square-foot Hamden facility with seven employees.
Ramar-Hall has close to 50 employees at its main Middlefield facility.
Monahan said negotiations for the Middlefield expansion began with AdvanceCT, the state’s nonprofit business recruitment arm, which identified the SSCI program as a potential fit and helped the company through the application process.
Ramar-Hall’s longtime lender, Beacon Bank, is providing another $2 million toward the project. Regional President Jim Hickson said programs such as SSCI are important to companies operating in Connecticut’s portion of the aerospace manufacturing corridor known as Aerospace Alley.
“The company was able to access more capital — more debt to facilitate their growth — by using the DECD as part of the equation,” Hickson told the Hartford Business Journal. “It does help lower the cost of a company’s capital.”
Monahan described the application process as extensive but said the state funding allowed Ramar-Hall to accelerate an expansion it already planned to pursue.
“We would have gone ahead without a doubt because it needed to be done in order for us to respond to the request of our customers and the long-term forecast that we’re seeing,” he said. “The state just allowed us to accelerate that and make this happen faster.”
More to come
Site preparation for the expansion is underway with Bloomfield’s PDS Engineering and Construction taking the lead. The company expects to enclose the new structure before winter and complete construction in the spring.
PDS Director of Business Development Paul Borawski said his firm is seeing an overall uptick in demand for manufacturing facilities in Connecticut.
“We’re looking forward to obviously helping them grow so they can help support the aerospace industry,” he said of Ramar-Hall. “They have the state support on this, so I think this is going to be one of many to come in the near future.”
Patel said additional SSCI awards are expected to be announced soon, potentially including the first involving a company relocating to Connecticut.
