NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) — Just outside of New Bern, a brand new facility in Craven County’s Industrial Park is ready to expand our nation’s defense. The facility is home to Aeronautical Systems Incorporated.

“We’re gonna bring our customers here, our suppliers here, and we’re gonna tell the story of what we do in a much better way than we could before,” said Senior Vice President of ASI, Kevin Burr.

Officials with Aeronautical Systems Incorporated said they’re excited to call Craven County home. They’re hoping to expand our nation’s military fleets worldwide.

“You see it on the news everyday and what’s happening in Ukraine right now,” said President of ASI, Carlos Pichardo. “While we’re not supporting Ukraine directly, we do a lot for all of the US allies, and we need to make sure we keep our equipment available at the highest levels.”

County officials say this company is a tremendous addition to Eastern North Carolina.

Jeff Wood is Craven County’s Economic Development Director. He said the $5.5 million investment has been three years in the making.

“It’s also great because there’s some Aerospace-related real estate near the airport where companies like ASI will like to relocate to,” Wood said.

Company officials are highlighting expanding partnerships in ENC.

“We’re able to partner with the depo and utilize the trained staff and their equipment and bring projects and really help our customers attain their equipment by utilizing the depo,” Pichardo said.

Officials with ASI describe Craven County as their new center of excellence, bringing in 30 new jobs and opportunities.

“We’re looking at bringing on technicians, machinists, as well as office personnel. we’re gonna need quite a few purchasing quality teams as well as operators,” Pichardo said.

Both Pichardo and Burr say they hope to expand the company throughout Eastern North Carolina.