BAE Systems Opens New Engineering and Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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BAE Systems is celebrating the opening of its facility in Cedar Rapids, supporting local employees with a modern building that enables collaboration and efficient operations. The company invested more than $100 million to build the state-of-the-art facility. The site is home to BAE Systems’ Navigation and Sensor Systems (NSS) business, a leader in advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that provides trusted navigation and guidance for a range of missions.

The purpose-built 278,000-square-foot facility brings together the company’s design and production employees into a single center of excellence with modern manufacturing, engineering, and office space. Its design will provide flexible product flow to optimize efficiency, with room for growth. More than 800 BAE Systems employees will work at the Cedar Rapids site as the company continues to expand its workforce to accommodate business growth.

“Our workforce in Cedar Rapids is the heart of our military GPS business, and we want to keep our roots in this community,” said John Watkins, vice president and general manager of Precision Strike and Sensing Solutions at BAE Systems. “This facility is a world-class work environment that will support innovation, production, and teamwork, and helps our talented team continue delivering cutting-edge technology to our customers.”

BAE Systems is a pioneer in military GPS technology that has delivered more than 1.5 million devices for more than 280 airborne, ground, and weapon system platforms. The company designs and produces advanced GPS technology compatible with the next-generation M-Code signal, improving security and anti-jamming capabilities for critical defense applications.

“The first GPS signal ever received on Earth was received here in Cedar Rapids,” said Luke Bishop, director of Navigation and Sensor Systems at BAE Systems. “We’re building on our legacy of innovation, and we’re supported with the tools and resources to do it.”

The Cedar Rapids facility is part of a broader strategic investment by BAE Systems across the country to support business growth, manufacturing capacity, and workforce expansion. The company recently opened state-of-the-art facilities in Austin, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The new Cedar Rapids site is part of BAE Systems’ Electronic Systems sector, a global leader in designing and developing innovative commercial, defense, and space electronics.