Lockheed Martin Canada’s Halifax facility is positioning itself for growth by developing and maintaining its capacity to export through its Nova Scotia operations.
“We’ve built an extremely talented and advanced workforce here in Nova Scotia through our work on the Canadian Naval command and control systems for Halifax-class frigates,” said Glenn Copeland of Lockheed Martin Canada. “We now have a group of leaders within the technology sector and we are going to use their engineering capacity for the huge opportunity ahead in working with many of the western world’s similar-sized navies.”
In May, Lockheed Martin Canada signed its first export contract with the New Zealand government for its Combat Management System, a system developed for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigates.
“The New Zealand award represents a breakthrough for Canada in a highly competitive environment. We recognize that we have a successful product that is in the final stages of acceptance into Canada’s operational fleet,” said Mr. Copeland.
“Modernization of existing fleets is proving more financially feasible to countries rather than having to procure new ships outright. We have a product tailored for that market and we believe there is great potential.”
The four-year contract to update the Royal New Zealand Navy’s two ANZAC class frigates is worth $180 million and will be completed by Lockheed Martin Canada’s three facilities in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. All of the software and engineering work will be done in Nova Scotia.
With 40 per cent of Lockheed Martin Canada’s workforce in Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) has been working with Lockheed Martin Canada to encourage work related to ANZAC and other high-value opportunities to be retained here in the province.
NSBI has signed a seven-year incentive agreement with Lockheed Martin Canada. The agreement requires the company to maintain a minimum of 200 jobs over the next seven years and encourages them to create up to 70 positions.
Lockheed Martin Canada would add a minimum of $110 million in salaries to Nova Scotia’s economy by maintaining the 200 positions over the seven years of the payroll rebate. Employees would pay provincial income taxes of about $14.7 million, earning the company up to $6.5 million in payroll rebates through NSBI’s Strategic Investment Funds.
“Lockheed Martin Canada is an anchor company in the province’s defence, security and aerospace sector,” said Harvey Doane, NSBI director of defence, security and aerospace. “The company’s local workforce has an average age of 38, with 68 per cent being under the age of 29 and we want these high-value jobs to stay here along with the export opportunities. This incentive is helping to facilitate this.”
Source: Release