Aerospace & Defense
Aerospace & Defense
Why Aerospace in Eastern NC?
- Available buildings and sites suitable for aerospace companies
- Critical mass of aerospace companies and a robust supply chain
- Aerospace Composites Manufacturing and Repair Program, Advanced Machining, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Welding, and FAA Airframe and Power Plant Certifications
- 6,000 highly-skilled exiting military personnel in Eastern NC each year and trending up
- Comprehensive STEM-based regional workforce development program
- Extensive 4-lane highway network which connects to freeways
- Global TransPark in Kinston – multi-modal industrial park, 11,500 foot runway, Foreign Trade Zone #214, rail spur to Norfolk Southern system and Port of Morehead City and sites with access to the taxiway
- 3 regional airports (Greenville, Jacksonville, and New Bern) and 2 international airports within easy driving distance
- Array of 3 PLs and trucking companies
- Reliable power and natural gas at competitive rates
- Excess water and sewer capacity in several communities
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Aerospace and Defense Employment
Download an excel file of Aerospace and Defense Employment
Aerospace and Defense Wage Rates
The location, the people and the spirit to make things happen in the aerospace and defense industries
Eastern NC has a large and growing array of aerospace companies, an integrated and well developed training and education system devoted to STEM education and the aerospace sector, as well as several unique assets to serve the industry.
Aerospace companies such as Spirit AeroSystems choose to locate their business in the Region because they know the location and workforce will service them well.
Eastern North Carolina is home to the third largest concentration of military personnel in the nation. The bases here house the majority of the military’s first response forces. These installations spend millions of dollars annually for the goods and services of companies in the region.
Military personnel leaving the services also represent an excellent source of skilled, disciplined, goal-oriented employees for new and expanding businesses in the region.
A growing number of firms – like DSM Dyneema, Kidde Aerospace, Defense Holdings, Inc. and others – have major operations in here. They’ve discovered that the region offers a skilled work force with invaluable defense industry background, a low unionization rate, great educational resources and a decidedly pro-business climate.
North Carolina Logistics Initiative (NCLI)
Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military has discussed privatization of some of its traditionally organic maintenance functions. Today, as a result of the wartime stresses of the past decade, the discussion has reached a new fervor. While billions of dollars are dedicated annually to help meet the increasing demand, the sheer scale and scope of repairing vehicles and equipment returning from overseas coupled with shrinking defense budgets and new performance targets (including cost, energy, and the environment) has created a need to improve the way this work is accomplished. Specifically, performing ground systems maintenance in NC makes sense. It’s good business for the military, for the defense contractors, and for North Carolina.
Click here to view the NCLI Brochure.
Base Procurement and Contracting Click on the following links to find more information on military procurement and contracting with these military installations in eastern North Carolina:
