WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss. and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Congressman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., today welcomed the announcement of a planned 50,000-square-foot expansion of the Raytheon Forest Consolidated Manufacturing Center plant in Forest. The new facility will be used to develop radar equipment for the military and is expected to generate dozens of new jobs.

“This development is great news for Mississippi and Scott County,” Wicker said. “With this investment, Raytheon will be continuing its contributions to the economic success of the region and to our nation’s defense. I am proud of Mississippi’s defense manufacturers and the excellent work they do to provide our nation’s military service members the tools they need to keep us safe.”

“Raytheon’s expansion in Scott County is a true compliment to the ability of our state and our workers to provide for our national defense,” Hyde-Smith said.  “The significant investment in Forest fits nicely with the greater goal of rebuilding American military capabilities and further strengthens the future of defense manufacturing in Mississippi.”

“I applaud Raytheon for investing in Mississippi and continuing to build our very capable workforce through the expansion of their Forest plant,” Harper said. “Their new facility will play a critical role in our national defense through the development and testing of cutting edge radar technology that will be utilized by our nation’s Armed Forces. This move is evidence of all that Mississippi has to offer.”

The company plans to use the new facility to produce radar equipment, which will be used in a variety of projects including the Navy’s next generation SPY-6 air and missile defense radar (AMDR). The new radars will be developed, tested, and produced on-site in Forest, then transported to Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula to be integrated onto the Navy’s DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class Flight III Destroyer.

Raytheon is committed to investing more than $90 million in Phase 1 of the project and will make additional growth investments over the next 5 years to bring its total investment to well over $100 million.