(The Center Square) – Four sites in North Carolina from the coast to the mountains are part of a $1 billion investment by GE Aerospace in American manufacturing.
Wilmington, Asheville, West Jefferson and Durham are targeted for a combined $163 million portion of the package. Overall, GE Aerospace says more than $275 million “will upgrade sites that produce defense engines and components, strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base to deliver at pace for military revisions.”
Another $200 million goes toward scale of durable parts production. These sites manufacture “high pressure turbine durability kits extending time on wing, and a new system that reduces the need for on-wing maintenance.”
Hundreds of millions are set for sites manufacturing and assembling commercial engines.
In Wilmington, $60 million will go to a site producing components for engines used “in narrowbody and widebody aircraft, along with military fighter jets and ships.”
In Asheville, $48 million will go producing parts needed for the ramping up of engines used on narrowbody aircraft, along with parts in widebody aircraft and military fighter jets, helicopters and ships.
In West Jefferson, $35 million will help produce critical parts for narrowbody commercial engines, and parts for commercial widebody engines and military aircraft.
In Durham, $20 million will go toward assembling engines used on narrowbody and widebody commercial aircraft.
“Maintaining U.S. aerospace leadership requires sustained investment in our people, our facilities, and the technologies that will define the future of flight,” said Chairman and CEO Larry Culp Jr. “This investment is for our customers, our communities, and our country.”
North Carolina is home to five major military bases plus a Coast Guard station and Army military ocean terminal on the coast, and has an estimated 91,000 active service members.
