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The Alaska
Aerospace Corporation says its business could generate $250 million in annual
revenue by 2018. That's according to an economic report it commissioned from an
Anchorage-based firm. The 28-page report paints a rosy picture projecting
cumulative direct and indirect economic impacts of the corporation's successful
expansion into the areas of missile defense, larger and more frequent rocket
launches and the operation of unmanned drones on behalf of state agencies.
Aerospace
Corporation CEO Dale Nash says other states have seen the value in investing in
their own spaceports.
-- aerospace 1 :36 "We
contracted with ... aerospace market in Alaska."
The report
comes at a time that the state-owned corporation admits to a $10 million
shortfall in operating funds. Governor Sean Parnell has earmarked $4 million in
his capital budget for the corporation. And a request for another $4 million
has been put to state lawmakers. Chief Operating Officer Craig Campbell says
he's optimistic the state would come through with $8 million this year.
-- aerospace 2 :20 "Right now it looks ... favorably looking
at it."
The
corporation is also seeking a multi-million investment from the state to invest
in larger, medium-lift rockets. Earlier estimates had put the price tag at
about $80 million but right now Campbell
says the corporation is focused on operating funds.
-- aerospace 3 :40 "That would be an additional ... request
for a facility."
The
corporation has been suffering shortfalls since its lucrative Missile Defense
Agency contract expired last year. Campbell
says federal funding is expected though the current impasse in Congress has
added to the corporation's difficulties. Campbell
says state funding is now a necessary stop-gap while he and others lobby
Congress.
-- aerospace 4 :24 "We think this is ... federal money back
online."
The last
launch at the Kodiak Launch Complex was a $170 million joint mission last
November involving the U.S. Air Force and NASA. Another Air Force military
satellite is scheduled in May though the precise date depends on the timing of
a similar mission on the East Coast, says Campbell.
-- aerospace 5 :37 "The one out of ... the first part of
April."
The
economic report largely operates on the assumption of expanding the Kodiak
Launch Complex to offer larger, medium-lift rockets and moving into
ground-based missile defense. The corporation has already submitted a bid with
private partner Lockheed Martin for a $5 billion Missile Defense Agency
ground-based defense contract at For Greely. The contract is expected to be
awarded in coming months. ###
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