On Wednesday, April 24th, Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, celebrated the grand opening of an expansion of its advanced manufacturing facility in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The expansion adds almost 50,000 square feet to the facility and supports significant growth across both current production programs and new opportunities in the aerospace industry.
The event, attended by employees as well as state and local leaders, included remarks from Aurora’s President and CEO Mike Caimona, Governor Jim Justice, and U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito. Following the ceremony, guests were invited to tour the expanded building. The facility manufactures components and systems for advanced aircraft such as the MQ-25TM Stingray, T-7A Red Hawk, and military helicopters. Earlier this year, Aurora announced that the West Virginia facility will build the airframe for DARPA’s X-65 active flow control demonstrator aircraft and will provide the transonic-truss-braced wing assembly for NASA’s X-66 sustainable flight demonstrator aircraft.
In 1994, Aurora opened its first West Virginia location, a 68,000 square feet composite materials and prototyping facility, in Fairmont. The company moved to the Bridgeport location in 1999, starting with a single building and growing into the 6-building campus they have today. This latest expansion increases the facility’s footprint to approximately 227,000 square feet and includes doubling the size of the clean room, adding another autoclave, installing permanent freezers, and creating adequate space to safely implement point-of-use tooling. The site is already home to cutting-edge manufacturing technology such as the robotic composite manufacturing cell, which uses robots for precise part machining, transport, and dimensional inspection.
“Fifteen years ago, I started my Aurora career in Bridgeport, and I am proud to continue our investment in this community,” said Luke Colville, vice president of manufacturing and aerosystems at Aurora Flight Sciences. “We are adding capacity to support today’s cutting-edge defense aircraft programs and to build experimental aircraft that will advance the technologies of tomorrow. I want to thank our customers for choosing to grow their business with us and our amazing Aurora team members whose hard work and expertise are critical to our success.”
To build high-quality composite components and assemblies for the aerospace industry, Aurora employs skilled technicians from the community. Over the next five years, Aurora plans to grow its workforce in West Virginia from 200 to over 300 team members. Aurora provides on-site training for new team members and works with local vocational programs, community colleges, and universities to connect students with employment opportunities. Recently, Aurora participated in the University of West Virginia’s STEM Career Fair, Career Day at Grafton High School, and the Pierpont Community and Technical College Aviation Career Fair. More information about careers at Aurora is available at careers.aurora.aero.
ABOUT AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES
Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, advances the future of flight by developing and applying innovations across aircraft configurations, autonomous systems, propulsion technologies, and manufacturing processes. With a passionate and agile team, Aurora delivers solutions to its customers’ toughest challenges while meeting high standards of safety and quality. Learn more at www.aurora.aero
