Lockheed Martin Set To Open Tech Center In Miss.

CLINTON, Miss. (AP) -- Lockheed Martin holds a ceremonial opening Wednesday for its new technology support center in Mississippi.

The Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor announced in April that it planned to create 350 new jobs at the center in Clinton, Miss. The mission support center will serve several of Lockheed Martin's federal customers.

The center is in part of the former corporate headquarters of WorldCom, the telecommunications company that went into bankruptcy in 2002. The former WorldCom campus, with several buildings, is now called the South Pointe Business Park and is just off Interstate 20.

Lockheed Martin already has operations in Mississippi: in Vicksburg, Biloxi and at Stennis Space Center outside Bay St.
Louis.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson are among the Mississippi officials speaking at Wednesday's ceremony.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)