300-job missile production facility adds to Lockheed's expansion moves in Titusville

300-job missile production facility adds to Lockheed’s expansion moves in Titusville

Posted by author February 3, 2025 Jobs

Spread the love

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s announcement late Friday that it will add 300 high-paying jobs in Titusillle to support an extended Trident ballistic missile producton contract with the U.S. Navy is the latest step in company’s expansion push in the city.

In addition to the 300 Lockheed Martin jobs being added, the defense technology company will be building a $140 million, 225,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility in Titusville for the project.

Titusville Mayor Andrew Connors said the new facility will be located near State Road 405 and Grissom Parkway, not far from the Titusville Police Department headquarters. And, Connors added, more Lockheed Martin facilities could be built there in the future.

“It’s exciting,” Connors said, referring to the company’s expansion in Titusville and the jobs it will create.

Previous expansion efforts

There were several previous projects that increased Lockheed Martin’s presence in Titusville.

In 2019, Lockheed Martin marked the transition of its fleet ballistic missile headquarters from Sunnyvale, California, to Titusville. The company said establishing this new site was one milestone in the larger move of more than 300 jobs to the Space Coast.

Then, in July 2023, Lockheed Martin commemorated the opening of a logistics facility to support the program at the company’s Titusville campus. The facility represented a capital investment of about $23 million, wrapping up a multiyear plan that included transitioning fleet balliatic missile program headquarters to the Space Coast.

At the time, Jerry Mamrol, vice president of fleet ballistic missiles at Lockheed Martin, said: “The Titusville area plays a prominent role in the defense industry, and is a great home for our program as we support the U.S. Navy in this critical mission. The completion of this state-of-the-art logistics center marks the final step of our program’s transition, allowing us to fully take advantage of centralized key skills and cost savings for the Navy.”

Navy contract sparks added jobs

But the company’s expansion in Titusville now is continuing, with the Navy awarding Lockheed Martin a $383 million modification to its existing contract to produce components for next-generation, submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The average annual wage for the new jobs will be $89,000.

Lockheed Martin said the facility is anticipated to be ready for operations in 2027 to meet the Navy’s production needs and support the service for the next 60 years.

The Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast said Lockheed’s collaboration with the Navy also is expected to mean that the Navy will add up to 100 naval personnel locally.

Lockheed Martin said the current Trident missile model is aboard U.S. Ohio-class and United Kingdom Vanguard-class submarines. The new model will be carried aboard the Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines that are scheduled to start deploying in 2030.

Economic incentive previously approved

Mindy Wilson, the Economic Development Commission’s senior director of communications and partner relations, said Lockheed expansion project previously was referred to internally as “Project Topaz.”

That was a project in which the Brevard County Commission and the North Brevard Economic Development Zone board in 2023 approved for $1.26 million in economic incentives.

Under the proposal approved by the NBEDZ board at the time, Project Topaz would receive a grant of $3,500 per job created for each of the first 140 jobs created, with a target for those jobs coming on line in 2027 and 2028. There would be a grant of $4,500 per job for jobs 141 to 250, likely coming on line in 2029 and 2030; and $5,500 per job for jobs 251 to 300, likely coming on line in 2031, 2032 and 2033.

The identity of the defense contractor was not disclosed at that time.

Lockheed’s announcement on Friday of its latest expansion in Titusville came on the day the Navy announced its expanded contract to the company.

Under the NBEDZ proposal, if Project Topaz did not meet average salary targets or did not retain the jobs for at least three years, it would have to forfeit some of the grant.

An economic analysis prepared by the North Brevard Economic Development Zone showed that the 300 direct jobs the company creates potentially cpuld result in 519 spinoff jobs at other businesses, including specialty suppliers and vendors.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54