Raytheon Co. recently announced that it will open a new high-tech facility in the Suffolk, Va., that will provide computer modeling, simulation and imaging services for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military services. The facility will be located in the Bridgeway Tech Center I office building in Bridgeway Commerce Park.

When the Raytheon facility opens, it will initially occupy 22,000 square feet and employ 15 people. The company anticipates that the new facility will grow in size and employment.

In April 2005, Governor Warner announced the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Initiative (VIMSIM), an aggressive plan to promote growth in Virginia's high-tech modeling and simulation industry centered in the Hampton Roads region. The VIMSIM includes the creation of a state-of-the-art Emergency Management Training, Analysis & Simulation Center (EMTASC) with Old Dominion University and private contractors, devoted to the command and operations management side of homeland security training. The EMTASC will fuel Suffolk's modeling and simulation industry and the Governor's VIMSIM initiative.

"This is an important investment that enables us to be closer to our customers and bring them even more of our modeling and simulation capabilities," said Colin Schottlaender, president of Raytheon Network Centric Systems. "We thank Governor Warner, the State of Virginia and the City of Suffolk for their commitment to this important technology center, and we look forward to the tremendous progress we can make together."

Network Centric Systems, based in McKinney, Texas, is one of Raytheon's major business segments and is a leader in providing network systems and netcentric integration to military, federal and civil customers worldwide.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Suffolk and the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance to secure the project for Virginia. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance will support the project with training assistance through its Workforce Services Jobs Investment Program.