Staying Power
The aerospace industry remains a vital economic force in the San Fernando Valley, despite defense-industry cutbacks that shrank many firms in the 1990s.
While prominent companies have reduced the size of their operations and many former aerospace properties have been converted to other uses, aerospace concerns are still some of the largest employers in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.
They also operate some of the largest facilities, such as Rocketdyne’s 2,800-acre Santa Susana test range near Chatsworth and the 4,000-employee Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. (the Skunk Works) at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.
“They’re still here and they’re still good-paying jobs,” said Saul Gomez, regional manager for economic development at the San Fernando Valley Economic Alliance, who said the Valley has 150 aerospace firms.
Along with the entertainment industry, aerospace is “one of the most important industries in the Valley,” Gomez said, pointing out that his figure of 150 aerospace companies doesn’t include the scores of suppliers that depend on those firms for their livelihood.
The aerospace tally in the Antelope Valley is 58 companies and 20,533 employees, according to David Myers, north Valley regional manager for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
The Antelope Valley total includes about 10,000 workers at Edwards Air Force Base and 7,500 at Plant 42.
The major aerospace operations in the Valley are:
* Boeing’s Rocketdyne division, with 5,000 workers at four locations, according to Dan Beck, a company spokesman in Canoga Park. The company’s facilities in the Valley include its main rocket engine manufacturing and engineering facility at Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue in Canoga Park; an engineering and test facility at De Soto Avenue and Nordhoff Street; the Santa Susana test range in the hills above Chatsworth, and about 194,000 square feet of office space it leases at West Hills Corporate Center, a former Hughes Missile Systems facility that has been converted to office space.
* Lockheed Martin’s facilities at Plant 42, where the company consolidated operations formerly housed at some of its properties in Burbank. The Lockheed Martin operation in Palmdale, with 4,000 workers, specializes in developmental aircraft, including the F-22 and the Joint Strike Fighter, according to Gail Rymer, a company spokeswoman.
* Other aircraft operations at Plant 42 that total about 3,500 workers, including Northrop-Grumman, Boeing and a new arrival this year, the Swiss firm SR Technics, which reconditions and modernizes aircraft. SR Technics employs about 250 workers now but has long-range plans to grow to 6,000 workers, Myers noted.
* Litton Industries, based in Woodland Hills, with 3,600 workers at locations in Woodland Hills and Northridge, according to company spokesman Randy Belote.
The company still has a data systems division in Agoura Hills, but that operation is being consolidated into the integrated systems division at the Northridge location and the Agoura Hills property will be sold, Belote said.
Litton announced Nov. 6 that as part of a corporate restructuring, it plans to sell its Advanced Electronics group, which includes all of its Valley operations, according to Belote.
He said Litton has retained Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor in seeking a buyer.
There is also an array of smaller companies:
* Burbank Aeronautical Corp., a maker of “hushkits” used to quiet jet engines and an employer of about 125, according to Tom McGuire, vice president of marketing.
* Hawker Pacific Aerospace, based in Sun Valley, which repairs and overhauls aircraft and helicopter landing gear and other components such as wheels and brakes. It has 300 employees at its Sun Valley headquarters.
* TA Manufacturing, a division of Esterline Technologies of Bellevue, Wash., with 230 employees in Valencia, where it moved from Glendale two years ago. The company is a longtime manufacturer of seals and clamps used in the aerospace industry.
