LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) -- Stark Aerospace is an aerospace defense contractor based in Lowndes County.
But what does it do at its 106,000 square-foot facility in the Golden Triangle Industrial Park?
"We make unmanned flying vehicles. We have a division that does electro-optics, seeing-in-the-dark-type equipment for military applications," said Tom Ronaldi, company president.
But that is not as simple as it sounds.
At Stark Aerospace, more than 100 employees work in their own departments and divisions to create very technologically advanced machines.
These unmanned vehicles not only help the military in ways that people cannot. They save lives.
"We're really focused on protecting the war-fighter, so we provide technology that protects our troops and keeps them safe. So that's a big motivating factor for us here," said Ronaldi.
Each unmanned vehicle costs millions of dollars, but the real gain is the economic impact a company like Stark Aerospace can have locally.
"We're bringing in high-quality workers to the area and pulling workers that are here as well. That's one thing that Stark has been very good at in the past is that they train the workforce and use local talent whenever possible and train them up as the job requires," said Steven Lamm, the company's chief financial officer.
"We bring a lot of good jobs to the area. These are high-tech jobs, skilled labor-and-engineering-type jobs, so it's a great environment for this type of work," continued Ronaldi.
