FORT WAYNE, Ind. — An emerging innovator in the defense industry has chosen Fort Wayne for its first Midwest office. Pacific Defense, an electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) tech company, will open its newest location at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (The NIIC).
Pacific Defense has had a presence in Fort Wayne since 2020 with local employees working remotely, delivering hardware and software solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense as well as prime defense contractors. Now, company leaders are uniting their Fort Wayne team under one roof with an eye toward growing the local workforce in coming years.
Plans call for Pacific Defense to lease approximately 2,100 square feet of office and lab space at The NIIC, 3201 Stellhorn Road in Fort Wayne. The NIIC’s location is adjacent to Purdue University Fort Wayne and Ivy Tech Community College, two key partners in building a talented workforce.
“Pacific Defense is excited to partner with the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center to grow our employee base in the Fort Wayne area,” said Travis Slocumb, CEO at Pacific Defense. “The NIIC provides our employees an energetic atmosphere in which to work, collaborate, and thrive. It also allows Pacific Defense to tap into the rich engineering talent across northeast Indiana.”
“We’re proud to welcome Pacific Defense to The NIIC,” said Mike Fritsch, president and CEO of The NIIC. “As an innovator in their industry, they’re a great fit, both for The NIIC and for our community. We look forward to watching the company grow here in northeast Indiana through our resources and entrepreneurial community. We’re excited about the potential collaboration among Pacific Defense and our other residential clients, many of whom have a talented pool of engineers.”
Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Pacific Defense has subsidiaries and affiliates in Silicon Valley, the Washington, D.C. metro area, Seattle, and New Hampshire. The company delivers cutting-edge tools for electronic warfare, signals intelligence, communications, and command and control, all within the U.S. Department of Defense’s new modular open standards that foster rapid development and deployment across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force.
Founded in 2020, Pacific Defense currently employs more than 200 people nationwide across its portfolio that includes Fort Wayne.
Positions at the company include engineers in radio frequency/software/digital design, artificial intelligence/machine learning scientists, and program managers. Interested candidates can learn more at pacific-defense.com/careers.
“Fort Wayne is honored to be the Midwest home for Pacific Defense. I continue to be encouraged by the new business and job growth we’re experiencing in our community,” Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry said. “Fort Wayne’s defense cluster is strong as part of our region’s efforts to have a diversified economy. We look forward to a positive partnership and future successes.”
About Pacific Defense
Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Pacific Defense has assembled a portfolio of industry-leading technology companies including: Spectranetix (based in Sunnyvale, Calif.), Perceptronics Solutions (based in Falls Church, Va.), and Spear Research (based in Nashua, N.H.). Pacific Defense was formed to support the DoD’s disciplined movement to modular open standards, including CMOSS/SOSA, and to mirror the way military services address EMS warfare with holistic mission planning and execution. Pacific Defense takes an organic, commercial-minded approach to developing military-use advanced solutions delivering EW, SIGINT, Comms and C2 capabilities to the DoD. Products are designed from the outset for modern, AI-driven autonomy with CMOSS and SOSA-aligned hardware and software. This includes state-of-the-art processing that can readily follow the evolution of commercial technology with complete data sharing across networks and platforms. See more information at www.pacific-defense.com and www.linkedin.com/company/pacific-defense.
About Greater Fort Wayne Inc.
Greater Fort Wayne (GFW) Inc. serves Fort Wayne and Allen County, Ind., as its metro chamber alliance and primary point of contact for economic growth. GFW Inc. focuses on prosperity and community vibrancy through economic development, advocacy, programs, and resources that support business success, leadership development, graduate retention and community engagement. GFW Inc. worked with state and local partners to assist Pacific Defense with their plans. In 2021, GFW Inc. assisted 27 businesses in expansions or relocations in Allen County, resulting in more than 2,600 projected new jobs, more than $105 million in new annual payroll, and more than $498 million in new private investment.
About The NIIC
499 new products launched, 196 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,351 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to $100.4 million in grants and capital. The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures. The NIIC bolsters innovative companies to move ideas into action. The NIIC is located in a designated U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone. In April 2018, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb designated The Northeast Indiana Innovation Park Campus as an Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. The International Business Innovation Association (inbia.org) recognized the NIIC as the 2020 Entrepreneur Center of the Year – Mixed-use and awarded it one of the two prestigious industry awards – the 2020 Dinah Adkins Award. TheNIIC.org.
