The Southeast has always held a strong element of the aerospace industry, but with budge cuts segmenting the available opportunity new rising stars are emerging outside of the Gulf Coast space corridor, notes a recent article in Avionics Intelligence.
The southeast is “becoming a prime destination for airplane manufacturers, parts suppliers, maintenance shops and even space exploration” argues the author, ” And, not unlike the southern migration of the nation’s automakers, aerospace companies are shifting production from the Midwest (and West) and Europe to the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Cheap land and labor, and a bucketful of financial incentives and tax breaks, attract Boeing and Airbus as readily as they did Kia and Caterpillar.”
Now Georgia wants to be part of the next great leap in the industry by opening a spaceport along the Georgia coast. The 4,000 acre location in Camden Country offers at least two of the characteristics desirable for a spaceport: remote location along the coastline and a massive plot of land. However, Georgia’s plan is not without competition. New Mexico and other states have or are planning to build their own spaceports. The success of the Georgia project might well rest on whether or not the state can put together the right incentives to lure anchor companies, like SpaceX and Lockeed-Martin, to the region.
For the cleared job seeker with experience in the aerospace industry, Georgia’s push into the field of space should come as welcome news. States have long recognized the value in courting aircraft and high-tech manufacturing, but if the trend in aerospace moving to the Southeast United States is true, it could mark a brand new wave of jobs to the regions as companies set up shop there.
Mike Jones is a researcher, writer, and analyst on national and international security. He lives in the DC area.
