RR breaks ground on test facility

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Rolls-Royce today broke ground on a new $50 million jet engine test facility at the company’s outdoor testing site at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi. When fully operational, the facility is expected to create 35 highly-skilled jobs. The Mississippi Development Authority is helping to support construction and workforce training with additional support from Hancock County. It's the company's second outdoor jet engine test facility to be built-from-the-ground-up in the U.S., and will be used to conduct research, development, crosswind, thrust reverse, cyclic and endurance tests on all Rolls-Royce civil aerospace engines. The outdoor test facility opened in October 2007 and is one of only three of its kind in the world. (Source: Rolls-Royce, 06/18/12)