DEFENSE: Key Defense Plant Complex Receives Major Grant Support

The Palmdale, CA based aerospace industry, which has been the birthplace of some of the most important air and rocket technologies of the last seventy years, received a major grant of nearly $1 million to upgrade land use planning and support infrastructure to allow for more manufacturing in and around the Palmdale Airport according to reporting from PublicCEO.com.

The readiness grant of $944,402 from the U.S. Department of War Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) Installation Readiness Program will allow the storied Plant 42 complex to work with local stakeholders on land use and future infrastructure to increase capacity at the plant and those clustered in the immediate Palmdale International Airport Complex for projects coming in the coming years.

A major driver of the California success story for nearly a century, expansion of the local aerospace industry in Palmdale, Hawthorne, and other communities will bring thousands of career building technical, design, engineering, and manufacturing jobs to the region.

“This grant gives us an opportunity to work even more closely with the Air Force and our regional partners as we plan for the future and make sure Palmdale remains a place where aerospace can continue to grow and create good jobs, “ said Palmdale Mayor Eric Ohlsen in comments on the funding award.

Aerospace and groundbreaking defense projects employ tens of thousands of highly skilled and talented workers in Southern California and across the West. The Association of Western Employers will continue to update this story.