New Space Warfighting Center in Colorado Springs to bring 250 new jobs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Aerospace Corporation held a ribbon-cutting celebration Tuesday to unveil its new Space Warfighting Center (SWC) in Colorado Springs.

The new, $100 million center is expected to create 250 future jobs in the Colorado Springs area and is anticipated to have up to a $100 million local economic impact, according to Aerospace; officials said that they have filled all but 87 of the new vacancies.

Jean Michael, general manager of the Aerospace location in Colorado Springs, said that the corporation should avoid the difficulty in hiring new talent experienced by some other hi-tech firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think Colorado Springs, and the state of Colorado in general, have very robust education systems," she said. "UCCS (University of Colorado-Colorado Springs) has just added aerospace engineering as a degree field. They just broke ground on a new engineering building. So there's a recognition beyond us."

Aerospace was founded in California in 1960 and has a presence in 11 states and the United Kingdom; its Colorado Springs location opened 15 years ago in the industrial park just south of the airport.

“The growth of Aerospace in Colorado Springs contributes to our global leadership in aerospace and defense,” said Jim Lovewell, chief defense development officer of the Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation. “We’re proud to have Aerospace’s expertise and innovation in our community.” 

According to Aerospace, the SWC is designed to provide critical laboratory space to further Aerospace's innovative technical work. The facility will support virtual design activities across company locations nationwide. 

The corporation also provides modeling and simulation capabilities, enables realistic digital training and testing environments that can examine space warfighting and advanced system concepts, and educate space operators and analysts on assessing a variety of threat scenarios.

"We've seen anti-satellite tests by China and Russia," said Steve Isakowitz, Aerospace's president and CEO. "We've seen our adversaries send their satellites too close to ours. We've seen satellites that create debris and threaten astronauts aboard the space station, and could even threaten future manned missions. Learning how to respond to these situations now -- here on the ground -- will help us prepare for what may happen up there, and maybe even prevent a war in space."

Isakowitz said that Aerospace's status as a nonprofit, federally-funded defense contractor gives it a unique advantage in the industry.

"We pride ourselves on being a convener of having all these different players come together and work side-by-side, and for us to bring together the insights with regard to the science, the physics and engineering to work on those things," he explained.

Aerospace also said that its mission won't be affected if U.S. Space Command leaves town for Huntsville, Alabama, and in fact may bring other benefits to the city.

"I've always said that regardless of what happens with Space Command, we're going to see greater military investment over the next decade in Colorado Springs -- and defense and technology companies involved in space and other areas are going to want to be a part of that," he said.

Officials said that the SWC should be fully staffed and operational by early next year.

For more information about Aerospace jobs, visit: https://aerospace.org/careers.