Alliant Tech systems wants to show Maryland what growth is all about.
ATK?s Mission Systems Group employs about 2,400 people at its Maryland and West Virginia locations. About 1,500 of those employees are Maryland residents, and Mission Systems Group expects to hire 300 to 400 engineers at those locations within a year.
“We have a statewide footprint,” Jack Cronin, president of Mission Systems Group, said at his South Clinton Street office in Baltimore. “You win with people.”
Mission Systems Group is the largest of ATK?s three business groups, with sales in excess of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2007 and about 5,000 employees operating in 15 states.
The company, with locations in Baltimore, Beltsville and Elkton, is a leading developer of space, aerospace and advanced weapons systems for national defense agencies.
Mission Systems Group develops the ammunition used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the FBI and police departments across the country.
Mission Systems Group also designs and develops space systems and sensors, propulsion and control systems, integrated aircraft systems and tactical systems.
“This company is a treasure trove of technology,” Cronin said.
Cronin, who served as a U.S. Army officer and helicopter pilot for eight years, joined ATK in April 2006 after 20 years with Raytheon Systems Ltd., a Massachusetts-based developer of defense products.
ATK, a $4 billion aerospace and defense company with headquarters in Minnesota, on Aug. 2 posted first-quarter fiscal 2008 sales of $958 million and net income of $52 million, both up from the same period in 2007.
“We remain focused on delivering the bottom-line results our shareholders expect through sales growth, margin improvements and capital deployment initiatives,” Dan Murphy, chairman and CEO of ATK, said in a statement.
ATK?s first-quarter performance was “remarkable,” said George D. Shapiro, an analyst for Citigroup.
“We expect ATK to sustain its premium growth for another year,” Shapiro wrote in his Aug. 2 report on the firm.
AT A GLANCE
» In 2006, ATK was ranked the 11th-largest world space company by Space News and 20th-largest U.S. defense contractor by Defense News.
» More info: atk.com
