New businesses will greatly impact Fayette County
Two announcements are planned Monday that will impact the business community and labor market in Fayette County. The first is a groundbreaking at 9:30 a.m. at the University Technology Park by Advanced Acoustics Concepts (AAC) for its first facility in Fayette County, according to U.S. Rep. John Murtha’s office.
The second will be an announcement by S. Kent Rockwell, SenSyTech Inc. chairman and CEO, about a new company coming to the county.
Further details were being withheld until the announcements.
Murtha announced he will attend both events.
In January, U.S. Rep. John Murtha announced AAC’s $12.4 million contract to create systems to protect U.S. ships and submarines from torpedo attacks. It currently operates from a 4,000-square-foot facility on West Main Street in Uniontown. AAC plans to create about 100 jobs by 2004.
Brian W. Boyle, AAC executive vice president, said it was Murtha who helped AAC locate in Fayette.
Boyle said AAC will create 30 “high-paying professional jobs’ by the end of the year and up to 100 jobs by 2004. He added the company would soon finalize plans for its plant in the technology park.
Robert J. Testut, AAC program manager, explained the AAC “Surface Ship Torpedo Defense Trip Wire Torpedo Defense System’ is a multi-faceted program to protect “non-combatants against torpedo attack. We can also protect marine animals by being able to detect them.
“What makes this system cost-effective is it can be towed behind a ship and fully integrated in the vessel’s electronics. It can run automatically.
“Program-wise, these will be very good jobs for this area,’ Testut said.
“We have other divisions in New York, Maryland and Virginia. But we needed one central point to bring all the elements together. That will be here in Fayette County,’ Testut added.
AAC was formed in May 1989. Since then, AAC has emerged as a leading supplier of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) automated real time multi-processing systems for both the commercial and government market place.
Meanwhile, Rockwell in April announced his company was awarding a $1 million contract to Shumar’s Welding and Machine Service to produce winches used in a Naval torpedo defense system.
Rockwell’s SenSyTech brought the work to Shumar after buying Frequency Engineering Ltd. (FEL) in February.
“We have about 200 employees at SenSyTech,’ Rockwell said, adding that 60 of those are “engineers involved in the design of software, systems and other products that go into these sophisticated sensory devices.’
SenSyTech designs, develops and manufactures electronic support measures, ELINT and threat warning systems, active electronic warfare systems, airborne imaging systems, communications reconnaissance systems and other special purpose communications equipment serving worldwide markets.