Local redevelopment officials say they would welcome the chance to relocate the manufacturing facilities of one of the country’s largest defense contractors.
The potential was raised after a comment Friday by Gov. Paul LePage during a tour of the Pratt & Whitney manufacturing plant in North Berwick, where Lockheed Martin produces parts for engines used on F-35 fighter jets.
LePage invited Lockheed Martin to relocate its aviation division to Brunswick Landing, so it could be closer to the North Berwick parts supplier.
“Just a few miles up, we have a Navy station waiting for occupants,” LePage said, referring to the naval air sta- tion that closed in 2011 and is being overhauled as Brunswick Landing and Brunswick Executive Airport. “Lockheed could come up and cut down on the distance,” the governor added.
LePage toured the facility with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and state Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, who is speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
Lockheed Martin already has a significant presence in Maine, with three locations and more than 800 direct and indirect jobs. Its website also claims an economic benefit to the state of more than $69 million in payroll.
The nearest Mid-coast location is an engineering and systems design division in Bath, where the company works on guidance and weapons systems used by warships built at Bath Iron Works.
Relocation of Lockheed’s aviation division to Brunswick is unlikely. But the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Steve Levesque isn’t ruling out anything.
“We’re always willing to talk to companies interested in locating at Brunswick Landing,” Levesque told The Times Record in an email message Saturday.
Later in Friday’s visit, LePage stirred controversy by suggesting while seated in a Pratt & Whitney fighter jet that he wanted to bomb the offices of the Portland Press Herald.
Calls to the governor’s office were not returned this weekend. jtleonard@timesrecord.com
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