LOCATIONS
LAND
11 Nov 14. Lockheed Gets $107m to Locate in Camden. New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority is giving Lockheed Martin $107m in tax breaks to locate in Camden — moving 250 employees from the company’s current facilities just a few miles away in Moorestown. The Courier-Post reports: Lockheed Martin said it plans to open two laboratory facilities next year in leased space in two downtown buildings. The sites will hold workers currently assigned to the defense contractor’s Moorestown facility, where about 3,500 employees pursue weapons research. Without the tax breaks, Lockheed Martin planned to eliminate the jobs “due to increased competition in the defense industry,” according to the EDA’s agenda for Monday’s meeting. Lockheed Martin will invest $146. 4m in its Camden project, according to the EDA. It will lease about 50,000 square feet at the L-3 Communications building, at 11 Federal Street, and the Waterfront Technology Center, at 200 Federal Street. Also Monday, the board approved tax credits worth $7.4m to DioGenix, a Maryland life-sciences firm considering a move to Camden. The company says it could add 71 new jobs in the city. (Source: Open Source Information Report/Philadelphia Magazine)
10 Nov 14. Harris Corp. on Monday opened a new 19,000-square-foot facility in Sunrise, Fla., that will support engineering activities and will serve as the Caribbean and Latin American sales hub for Harris RF Communications products and services. “Opening our new center enabled us to quickly add a significant number of highly qualified engineers with expertise in advanced software defined radio waveforms,” said Dana Mehnert, group president of Harris RF Communications. “Harris has a strong commitment to Florida, and we’re proud to be able to open this new facility in South Florida.” (Source: Open Source Information Report/Inside Orlando Business Journal)
12 Nov 14. Telangana plans two defence parks. In an attempt to attract foreign companies in defence and aerospace sectors, the Telangana State government on Tuesday announced new aerospace parks at Warangal and Hyderabad. “The proposed aerospace park in Hyderabad will be spread over an area of 1000 acres which is expected to give a fillip to the state’s defense industry,” said Telan-gana’s special chief secretary and commissioner for industrial promotion and mines K. Pradeep Chandra. This will be the third aerospace park in the state after two in Adibatla. Mr Chandra was speaking at an event organised to announce a three-day defence and aerospace conference Defence and Aerosupply India — organised by the government along with Kenes Exhibitions. Global majors including Airbus, Boeing, Schneider, are expected to participate in the conference. “The defence industry in India is growing in double digits and the government spending is expected to triple in size in the next 15-20 years,” said Mr Chan-dra, adding, “India currently spends $22-$25bn a year in its defence.” With Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledging to “buy Indian”, domestic companies are entering into the defence sector in partnership with foreign defence equipment makers and are pouring in bns of dollars in the anticipation of bigger returns. (Source: Google/Deccan Chronicle)
10 Nov 14. Google moves into Nasa’s space. Google has taken a 60-year lease on a Nasa airfield next to its Silicon Valley headquarters as it pushes deeper into researching areas like space exploration and vehicles capable of navigating other planets. The lease includes a commitment to spend $200m on the facilities at the Moffett airfield, including renovating a gigantic, historic airship hangar that has become a prominent local landmark. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with chairman Eric Schmidt, have had an agreement with Nasa for some time to use the airfield as a base for their private jets. The space agency rejected an offer to pay for the renovation of Moffett’s Hangar One, which stands some 200 fe