The total revenue of the A&D industry in 2018 exceeded $929 billion, 49/51% attributed to supply chain and manufacturers, respectively, and a total number of 881,000 direct jobs. A&D exports amounted to $151 billion.
Puerto Rico contributed $0.5 billion in revenue and nearly 6,000 direct jobs in 2019. Since 2007, Puerto Rico has promoted the establishment and creation of companies in the A&D sector with great success due to the essential elements that exist in the Island for the growth of this sector.
These elements remain in force today:
- workforce with an education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Universities in Puerto Rico produce an average of 22,000 graduates in these fields annually, and five of them have ABET-accredited engineering programs.
- Workforce accustomed to working in a highly regulated environment. The 40-plus years of drug production have created this environment and the transition to the A&D industry, which is also highly regulated, has been shown to be easy for most of our workforce and for the companies that employ them.
- 50% of STEM graduates have traditionally been recruited by the A&D industry, even before 2007 when the Government began promoting the industry locally. For example, of the 120 engineers working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, 70 are college graduates in Puerto Rico.
- Puerto Rico, being a territory of the United States, provides compliance with EAR and ITAR regulations. “EAR = Export Administration Regulations, ITAR = International Traffic in Arms Regulations”. It also meets manufacturing requirements made by American citizens such as the so-called “Under the flag (UTF).“
- The location of Puerto Rico is the closest to the equator within the United States territory which provides for optimal launches into space with a reduction in fuel use. Being surrounded by the sea, Puerto Rico provides both polar orbit and equatorial orbit launches.
- Puerto Rico has several restricted FAA flight areas due to its former military bases. This can facilitate the research, testing, and development of air and spacecraft, as well as the launch of space missions.
- Puerto Rico provides a dynamic environment for business development and growth and is a center of technological innovation. (See chart).
