If they had a bugle, it would be a safe bet that a coalition of city, county, and private officials from Allen County would be sounding it daily in a local call to arms.

Their objective: protect at all costs General Dynamics Lima Army Tank Plant, its 600 good-paying jobs, and the $100 million in revenue that it pumps into the city of Lima and Allen County.

As sole producer of the Abrams M1-A2, the Army s main battle tank currently deployed in Iraq, one might think the plant would be untouchable. The plant also makes components for a Marine Corps amphibious vehicle, parts for Abrams tanks used by Egypt, a mobile bridge vehicle called the Wolverine, and the lower chassis for a new eight-wheeled light armored Army vehicle called the Stryker.

But because the 61-year-old tank plant is owned by the U.S. Army, it is facing possible closure - along with every other military base or facility - in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process conducted by the Department of Defense.

Although Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won t submit a closings list until May, 2005, leaders in Allen County are preparing for the worst now.

Every facility is on the consideration list,” said Marcel Wagner, president and chief executive of the Allen County Economic Development Group.

Mr. Wagner s group, Lima city officials, Allen County commissioners, the United Auto Workers, representatives of U.S. Rep Michael Oxley (R., Findlay), and others are part of an umbrella organization called Task Force LIMA (Linked in Mutual Alliance).

The group, which has been meeting for a year, had focused on ways of bringing more work to the plant that is run by General Dynamics Land Systems via an Army contract. But its focus shifted full time in the fall to the base closings issue.

We have pretty good contacts in the House appropriations committee and Armed Services committee, said Tim Johnson, a spokesman for Mr. Oxley, who represents the Lima area. The congressman hopes to preserve the tank plant, he added.

Mr. Wagner s organization recently was awarded a $58,500 matching grant from the Ohio Department of Development to help the community fight a potential closing.

Coalition members said they would weigh the plant s merits against other facilities in a fair evaluation. But the process will be politicized, they added.

My biggest fear is we don t get a fair shake and they don t come in to look at what we offer and what we have to offer for the future, said Jeff Monroe, president of UAW Local 2075, which represents most of the Lima plant workers. I m most concerned about politics - that someone s else politics will be better than ours.

The suspicions stem from last year, when the plant did the prototype work for the new Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle for the Marine Corps, only to see the contract for assembly of the vehicle go to a new plant in Virginia.

The official explanation was that Virginia has better water-testing capability for the amphibious vehicle, but Lima officials aren t buying it. They believe U.S. Sen. John Warner of Virginia used his influence to steer the work to his state.

Lima mayor David Berger isn t just concerned the local plant could be closed, he s downright fearful.

When the plant was downsized from 3,800 hourly workers to just 600 in 1993-94, it pulled nearly $300 million out of Lima s and Allen County s economy. Local officials estimate a closing now would take about $100 million out of the economy.

The task force plans to raise about $250,000 to prepare analyses of the plant s capabilities to present to the Department of Defense as well as to hire a top lobbyist in Washington.

First Published January 21, 2004, 1:12 p.m.