`SKUNK WORKS' LOOKS TO EXPAND; LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESIDENT OPTIMISTIC.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Lockheed Martin's ``Skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. Works'' has the potential over the coming decade to double its work force to nearly 12,000 employees, company President Jack Gordon Jack Leon Gordon (November 10, 1939 - April 19, 2005) was the former manager and husband of singer La Toya Jackson. Early life and career Gordon was born in Springfield, Illinois to Abraham Gordon (a native born Russian) and Faye Stein (a native of Illinois). says. To achieve that growth, the Skunk Works must retain or expand its existing business, reach its goal of building a reusable commercial spacecraft and land ``one of several significant classified activities,'' Gordon wrote in a column in the latest edition of the Star, a monthly company newsletter. ``I am please to report that we have the potential of growing significantly for the next decade,'' he wrote. ``Indeed, we have the potential of being twice the size we are today.'' The Antelope Valley's largest civilian employer, the Skunk Works has about 5,700 employees in Palmdale now and is expected to reach around 6,000 workers by January. In recent months the company has won a series of high-profile jobs, including a $900 million NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. contract to develop the X-33 - a craft that the Skunk Works hopes will pave the way for a reusable, single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft - and a contract to build two prototypes for the joint strike fighter program The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) became synonymous with the later F-35 Lightning II, however until 2001 the term was applied to the competition between the Boeing X-32 and Lockheed Martin X-35. . Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. recently completed a move of its Aircraft Services unit to the Skunk Works, bringing some 800 workers to Palmdale from Ontario. ``I offer the foregoing optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op picture to make two points,'' Gordon wrote. ``First, we have great opportunities, and second, we have our destiny in our own hands.'' |
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