In an example of what is expected to become a regular feature of future meetings, Greenville Area Development Corp. investors learned about the impact of Lockheed Martin’s move to bring F-16 production to Greenville during the GADC holiday social Nov. 14.
The aerospace and aviation giant has operated in Greenville for 40 years but expanded significantly seven years ago with the announcement it would move production of its F-16 fighter jet to South Carolina from Texas.
What that move has meant for the area was the subject of a briefing to GADC investors by Ben Peat, Lockheed Martin’s director of operations. Its Greenville facility occupies 275 acres at the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center in southern Greenville County.
For most of its history, the company’s Greenville facility served mostly as a maintenance depot and started with a staff of about 20, Peat said. Since then, the number of employees has expanded to about 2,000, with about 1,000 of those hired in the past two or three years, he said. Lockheed Martin has an ongoing order from the U.S. Department of Defense to manufacture the F-16, primarily for sales to foreign allies.
Peat said Lockheed Martin has been able to create a pre-apprenticeship program to aid staffing needs by working with partners like Ready SC, Greenville Technical College and the state technical college system.
The program attracts employees out of high school and runs them through a six-week training program to teach them how to work on assembling the Block 70 F-16, the most advanced version of the fighter jet to date.
Peat said about 50 employees have gone through the program thus far.
“We’re ecstatic to be able to do this work here,” he said. “I knew I wanted to live in Greenville, and I love living in Greenville, but what I didn’t know when I moved here is how easy it is to do business and how business-friendly it is here.”
Lockheed Martin Greenville facility fast facts:
- Located on 275 acres at the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center
- 16 hangars and 1.2 million square feet of covered space
- About 4 million square feet of ramp space
- Served by about 200 South Carolina suppliers
- Approximately $1.3 billion in average annual economic impact, up from about $100 million annually before F-16 production moved to Greenville County
