(WLIO) - Congressman Tim Ryan toured a facility in west central Ohio to see how new innovations are being made in Air Force technology.
Ryan learned more about the collaboration between Good Year and the Air Force research lab in order to create a domestic source of natural rubber from a specific species of dandelion. The congressman secured an appropriations bill of five million dollars in order to cultivate the plants in the state of Ohio. Ryan says that seeing this in the United States is important to overall growth in the Air Force.
"I think the last 40 years it's become very dangerous what we rely on, on suppliers from outside of the United States. Whether it's a sponge for titanium from Russia or rubber from Asia or other component parts. It's ridiculous. Like we've got to be able to manufacture the stuff and grow the stuff here in the United States. So this I love because it's a combination of innovation it's helping rural communities and it's helping the industrial base here in the United States," stated Congressman Tim Ryan.
Ryan further states that this would help boost U.S. rubber production and restore the supply chain.
