Lockheed Martin
is planning to add 500 new jobs in Orlando, and the defense contractor is seeking $3.5 million in incentives.
Lockheed Martin is planning to add 500 new jobs at its Missiles and Fire Control plant in South Orlando, and the defense contractor is seeking $3.5 million in incentives for the expansion.
Lockheed will pay the 500 new employees an average salary of $87,000, according to a proposed county resolution to authorize the tax refunds. The hiring would be phased in over the next five years.
The Orange County Board of County Commissioners is set to vote Tuesday on its portion of the incentive package, $700,000. According to the resolution, other regions are competing for the Lockheed expansion, but it didn’t say where. A Lockheed spokeswoman declined to provide details.
In April, the Lockheed MFC plant in Orlando landed a military deal that could be worth $100 million for the production of air strike missiles known as Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, or JASSM.
The defense industry in general has been anticipating growth in military spending. The Trump Administration is seeking a 10 percent increase in defense spending, or $54 billion.
The news of the Orlando hiring comes just days after President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, personally intervened in a $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia to get the Saudis a better deal, and called Lockheed CEO Marilyn Hewson during negotiations to get ask for a better price for the Saudis, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the U.S., employs about 7,000 people in Central Florida. Its largest location locally is the MFC plant at 5600 W. Sand Lake Road. That facility makes the F-35 fighter jet’s electro-optical targeting system, among other things.
The MFC division designs, develops and manufactures aerospace and defense systems. That is mostly high-tech systems for combat including missiles and rockets. Clients include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, NASA and dozens of foreign allies.
MFC also offers a wide range of products and services for the global civil nuclear power industry and the military’s green power initiatives.
Lockheed’s MFC plant also recently landed an order to build 14 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods, which are used on fighter jets, for the Kuwait Air Force in an order through the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed also recently said it would move 300 jobs from California to nearby Brevard County as part of a ballistic missile program.