Aerospace and Aviation

Albuquerque has both a decades-old aerospace industry and a growing new aviation cluster. The aerospace segment includes more than 100 companies with roots in the earliest operations of Kirtland Air Force Base and the nation’s space program. They continue to serve both Kirtland in Albuquerque and White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. Aviation is an exciting new segment anchored by Eclipse Aviation.

The biggest players are:

Lockheed Martin Corp., which manages Sandia National Laboratories for the Department of Energy.

Honeywell Inc. Defense Avionics Systems, which develops and manufactures cockpit avionics and control systems for military aircraft and vehicles.

Boeing, which in 2000 acquired SVS Inc., a local optics company, and has expanded the operation significantly.

Goodrich Corp. Space Flight Systems Division, which manufactures systems and components for space launch vehicles and satellites.

GE Aircraft Engines, which began operations here in 1967 and produces components for commercial and military aircraft engines.

Northrop Grumman Information Technology, which designs and develops high-energy lasers and large optical systems

Aerospace/Aviation Manufacturing Center

A civilian manufacturing center is taking shape at the City of Albuquerque’s Aerospace Technology Park at Double Eagle II Airport, a reliever airport on the city’s West Side.

Eclipse Aviation in 2000 chose Albuquerque for its headquarters and manufacturing plant for production of a six-seat commercial jet , and American Utilicraft will build a freight airplane.

Economic development incentives were one attraction, but flying weather was an important factor. “We wanted to pick a site that would be attractive to our customers,” said Vern Raburn, CEO of Eclipse. “People from all over will come here.”

What Aerospace Companies Say

Al Daniels, president of Goodrich’s Space Flight Systems Division: “We like it here.” Goodrich has found the cost of doing business in Albuquerque lower than the Northeast.

Robert Marrah, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems: “This is a good workforce, an excellent workforce. We have lower turnover than other parts of Honeywell. It’s a friendly working environment.”

Workforce Training

Central New Mexico Community College , with industry input, is adding a new series of associate degrees in aerospace technology.

Aerospace Assets

The Air Force Research Laboratory has two of its ten directorates at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque: Space Vehicles and Directed Energy (laser technology).

Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque is one of the largest installations in the Air Force Materiel Command, with some 25,500 workers and 200 organizations, including Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Air Force Safety Center, the DOE and Sandia National Laboratories.

Sandia National Laboratories has a long history of involvement in space sciences and the military space program. It’s been a leader in developing new materials, sensors and technologies.

The University of New Mexico’s research and activities parallel New Mexico’s long involvement in aerospace. The Institute of Meteoritics, founded in 1944, is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the world and continues to be a leader in research of planetary materials and processes. The Intelligent Systems Engineering Center, funded by NASA, focuses on systems with a high degree of autonomy, such as cooperative satellite arrays and cooperative robotics. See

http://www.soe.unm.edu/Research/research-centers.html. The well regarded Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies has provided space-related R&D since 1984.

See http://www.unm.edu/~isnps/

Contacts

Professional Aerospace Contractors Association of New Mexico Inc.