03.14.22
Pacific Defense opens engineering center in Fort Wayne
Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
The following is reposted from Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
An emerging innovator in the defense industry has chosen Fort Wayne for its first Midwest office. Pacific Defense, an electromagnetic spectrum operations tech company, will open its newest location at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center.
Pacific Defense has had a presence in Fort Wayne since 2020 with local employees working remotely, delivering hardware and software solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense as well as prime defense contractors. Now, company leaders are uniting their Fort Wayne team under one roof with an eye toward growing the local workforce in coming years.
Plans call for Pacific Defense to lease nearly 2,100 square feet of office and lab space at The NIIC, 3201 Stellhorn Road in Fort Wayne. The NIIC’s location is adjacent to Purdue University Fort Wayne and Ivy Tech Community College, two key partners in building a talented workforce.
“Pacific Defense is excited to partner with the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center to grow our employee base in the Fort Wayne area,” Travis Slocumb, CEO at Pacific Defense, said in the announcement. “The NIIC provides our employees an energetic atmosphere in which to work, collaborate, and thrive. It also allows Pacific Defense to tap into the rich engineering talent across northeast Indiana.”
“We’re proud to welcome Pacific Defense to The NIIC,” Mike Fritsch, president and CEO of The NIIC, said. “As an innovator in their industry, they’re a great fit, both for The NIIC and for our community. We look forward to watching the company grow here in northeast Indiana through our resources and entrepreneurial community. We’re excited about the potential collaboration among Pacific Defense and our other residential clients, many of whom have a talented pool of engineers.”
Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Pacific Defense has subsidiaries and affiliates in Silicon Valley, the Washington, D.C. metro area, Seattle, and New Hampshire. The company delivers cutting-edge tools for electronic warfare, signals intelligence, communications, and command and control, all within the U.S. Department of Defense’s new modular open standards that foster rapid development and deployment across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force.
Founded in 2020, Pacific Defense currently employs more than 200 people nationwide across its portfolio that includes Fort Wayne.
Positions at the company include engineers in radio frequency/software/digital design, artificial intelligence/machine learning scientists, and program managers. Interested candidates can learn more at pacific-defense.com/careers.
“Fort Wayne is honored to be the Midwest home for Pacific Defense. I continue to be encouraged by the new business and job growth we’re experiencing in our community,” Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry said. “Fort Wayne’s defense cluster is strong as part of our region’s efforts to have a diversified economy. We look forward to a positive partnership and future successes.”
