Members of The Aurora Chamber’s Defense Council visited two of Colorado’s Aerospace Leaders, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in February and March.   At Raytheon in Aurora, the Site Executive and Engineering Vice President, Ross Niebergall described the various businesses and key mission areas for Raytheon.  Raytheon employs about 2,800 people throughout the state, with the majority of employees located in Aurora.  Raytheon Company manages spacecraft missions and analyzes post-launch data through a variety of technologies including radio frequency, GPS, communications and intelligence, and electro-optical/infrared. The breakfast sponsor for the meeting was the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Denver-Aurora.

In March, Defense Council members traveled to Lockheed Martin in Littleton, CO where they received a company overview from Christine Lee, Government Relations.   Lt. General (retired) Mike Hamel, Vice President Strategic Solutions, talked about how we are currently in the next great space age and how critical space is to all of us.  He also thanked the Defense Council and Aurora Chamber for supporting our military personnel, “they could not do what they do, without your support”, said Hamel.  Lockheed Martin employs more than 9,000 people in Colorado. Of these workers, about 6,200 are employed at the Space Systems Company in Littleton.   Space Systems designs, develops, tests, and manufactures advanced technology systems for its government, international, and commercial customers.  The company also develops products ranging from human space flight systems and navigation, meteorological, and communications satellites to ground station and missile defense systems.  The breakfast sponsor for the meeting was the Hyatt Regency, Aurora-Denver Conference Center.