Mississippi Raytheon expanding

Raytheon plans to increase the size of its Forest, Miss., manufacturing facility by more than 20,000 square feet and hire more than 150 new workers. That's according to an announcement today by Raytheon and state officials. The expansion is to support anticipated growth in airborne radar and electronic warfare markets. At 340,000 square feet, the plant already is one of the largest defense manufacturing plants in the Magnolia State. This year, the Forest plant ramped up its fighter jet radar production rates 10-fold. It also delivered more than 500 Active Electronically Scanned Array aircraft radars. In addition to fighter jet radars, the facility makes the Sentinel air defense radar, with 57 additional ones in production for the U.S. Army. (Source: Raytheon via PRNewswire, 11/11/13)