MONTGOMERY, Ala — Manufacture Alabama has launched the Alabama Aerospace & Defense Council, a new steering committee made up of private and public sector experts to promote growth in the state’s aerospace and defense industry.
The new committee was announced recently by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth – a former national president of the Aerospace States Association – during a press conference in Montgomery where he touted Alabama’s already robust aerospace and defense industry.
“Alabama is the aerospace and defense capital of the world, but we need to adopt a 67 county approach to ensure that every portion of our state shares in the jobs and investments that these important industries provide,” Ainsworth said.
“More than 103 Alabama companies participate in the Artemis program that will soon take us back to the moon, and Mobile is on its way to becoming one of the largest commercial aerospace manufacturing cities on the planet, but even with these impressive benchmarks, we can do more.”
The AADC, which includes leaders from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon Technologies and Airbus, will work on media campaigns to promote investment in the aerospace and defense industry, lobby for policies that support industry growth and foster connections between policy makers and industry leaders. The new committee will be headquartered in the offices of Manufacture Alabama in Montgomery.
According to Ainsworth, the total impact of the aerospace industry in Alabama is $17.4 billion, amounting to 7.5% of the state’s gross domestic product, and provides just over 63,000 jobs with an annual payroll impact of $4.3 billion.
Even larger was the impact on the state from its defense industry, with military defense contracts in the state amounting to $50.3 billion, amounting to 21.8% of the state’s GDP, providing nearly 265,000 jobs with an annual payroll impact of $19.3 billion.
Of the nearly 265,000 jobs within the defense industry, 96,340 were held by active duty military personnel, while 168,439 were held by private military contractors, per an economic impact study analyzing 2019 data.
“Alabama is the aerospace and defense capital of the world,” Ainsworth said this week in a social media post. “The new Alabama Aerospace and Defense Council will ensure we continue to lead the way by advocating for policies that encourage the growth of Alabama’s already significant aerospace and defense industries.”