Lockheed Martin will launch a new cyber arm in San Antonio that will grow to 100 jobs over the next two years, according to company officials.
The new office being built inside Port San Antonio’s Project Tech building represents one of a handful of facilities Lockheed has built in client-adjacent offices. Other sites include Ft. Mead, Maryland; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
The company currently employs 15 cybersecurity workers in federal and military facilities in San Antonio.
Software developers, systems engineers, and other advanced technology positions make up Lockheed’s new build-out. The giant defense contractor is looking to capitalize on the area’s military market, which includes24 and 25 Air Force, as well as NSA Texas.
According to port officials, Lockheed will use the space for the Henosis prototype, which is described as "the equivalent to a cyber aircraft carrier," while the company competes for the Air Force’s Unified Platform contract. The Air Force has budgeted $30 million for a suite of unified tools for both offensive and defensive cyber missions in 2019.
“We’re starting to set up these development centers — or cyber centers of excellence — in the locations where the customers are” said David Hathaway, Cyber Solutions business development lead for Lockheed Martin.
Accessing those federal customers, Hathaway said, also means having space that allows for top-secret and other clearance-level conversations — spaces called Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities.
“It’s absolutely critical,” said Hathaway “In cyberspace, things can change overnight; requirements can change; the threat can change. A lot of things are hidden or obscured.”
A lack of SCIF space in San Antonio was pointed out in a 2014 Greater Chamber of Commerce
Study and one of the impetuses for building Project Tech.
“This was the first time we built things specifically this market,” said Jim Perschbach, interim CEO of Port San Antonio.
The building is powered by two different electrical substations and has redundant fiber optic lines feeding it data.
Lockheed’s announcement Friday morning comes just a few weeks after the port cut the ribbon on Project Tech, and for interim CEO Jim Perschbach is validation.
“Very soon we think we are going to be breaking even on the building,” he said. “We have more interest in that building than we have space.”
Lockheed will move into the yet undeveloped third floor of Project Tech building 1 and will take up 15,000 sq. ft. of the 90,000 sq. ft. building.
The $20 million building was a major investment for the port, which brings in revenues of around $33 million annually.
The Lockheed deal adds to the estimated 1,000 cyber security workers at the port.
Paul Flahive can be reached at paul@tpr.org or follow him on Twitter @paulflahive
