Jindal on Northrop Grumman Investment in Louisiana

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Nov 09, 2009 -- BATON ROUGE – Today, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal applauded the grand opening of Northrop Grumman’s new 20,000-square-foot facility in Slidell, La. The new facility combined Northrop Grumman’s Slidell office and Stennis Space Center operations, representing a $4 million capital investment.

This project retained 35 jobs from the Slidell office, created 40 new high-tech jobs at an average annual salary of $47,000 plus benefits and will generate approximately 31 indirect jobs. In addition, this project is expected to generate nearly $1.7 million in new state tax revenues and nearly $1.2 million in new local tax revenues from 2009 to 2018.

Governor Jindal said, “Expanding and retaining Louisiana’s existing companies is our top economic priority, and today’s milestone is another reminder that our efforts are working. It’s also a reminder that, despite the national recession, companies have continued expanding and investing in Louisiana.”

Northrop Grumman Vice President for Geospatial Intelligence John Olesak said, “The grand opening of Northrop Grumman’s Slidell campus not only represents a significant addition to the local business community, but also our commitment to bring cutting-edge innovation to the area. The capabilities available through this new facility, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), are at the forefront of the geospatial industry and are shaping the technology available now, and in the future.”

Louisiana Economic Development (LED) worked closely with the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, or STEDF, to ensure that Northrop Grumman selected Slidell for this project. Moreover, LED’s Quality Jobs Program helped convince Northrop Grumman to expand in Slidell and the company will take advantage of the program.

“We are excited about the positive, long-term economic impact that this will have in St. Tammany Parish,” said Brenda Reine-Bertus, executive director of the STEDF. “The high-tech jobs that Northrop Grumman’s expansion offers are a perfect match for our highly-skilled workforce. These are the types of jobs that we will continue targeting and attracting to this community.”

As a Light Detection and Ranging Center of Excellence, the Slidell facility will broaden the company’s scope of capabilities throughout Louisiana. The site will support terrestrial elevation, watershed, flood, bare earth and surface modeling, volumetric and permeability solutions, and feature extraction data.

Northrop Grumman acquired 3001 International Inc. in October 2008. With this acquisition, Northrop Grumman now provides full end-to-end geospatial capabilities, including airborne imaging, surveying, mapping and geographic information systems for domestic and international government intelligence, defense and civilian customers.

Northrop Grumman is the largest private-sector employer in Louisiana, employing approximately 5,900 employees at six locations throughout the state. It is a leading global company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

Source: Louisiana Governor