Beavercreek defense firm’s growth with ‘in-demand jobs’ is what Ohio needs, Lt. Gov. says

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted talks with employees Tuesday May 2, 2023 of defense contractor Resonant Sciences about in-demand jobs. The company is located at 4085 Executive Drive, Beavercreek. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted talks with employees Tuesday May 2, 2023 of defense contractor Resonant Sciences about in-demand jobs. The company is located at 4085 Executive Drive, Beavercreek. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

Beavercreek defense contractor Resonant Sciences has been on a steady growth track since its founding eight years ago, and Micah North, the company’s president and chief executive, said the company is readying to open its fourth Dayton-area location this year.

North shared the news with Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who visited local sites Tuesday to highlight “In-Demand Jobs Week,” a celebration of the jobs, industries, and skills Ohio employers need. He also visited the Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua.

North said Resonant Sciences is refurbishing a former Vineyard Church property on Indian Ripple Road in its latest expansion.

“We signed a lease on that and we’ll be moving into it,” North said, adding: “We will move a lot of our assembly work over there.”

The company also has locations on Executive Boulevard and Research Boulevard, not far from the new GE Aviation-Unison Industries home and Northrop Grumman. With about 80 Dayton-area employees and more than 150 total, the business also has locations in Virginia, Colorado and Michigan.

The company is a research and development firm focused on developing and transitioning technologies to developmental and operational platforms, including antennas, radomes (enclosures that protect radar antennas) and more.

“We got a place where people want to be,” North said. “They want to do cool things.”

Success breeds success, as far as Husted is concerned.

“They do research for the entire aviation industry,” he said of Resonant Sciences while visiting its Executive Boulevard site “It’s a magnet ... Almost every company that we are trying to recruit or secure or expand, they do business with companies like this.”

In July 2020, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a 1.686% seven-year tax credit for the business, with the expectation that the company would create 30 full-time positions, generating $3 million in new annual payroll and retaining $6 million in existing payroll.

In October 2021, Resonant Sciences said it added 35 jobs to provide machining work for the Air Force. JobsOhio, the state’s private jobs creation corporation, awarded the company $320,000 to support the purchase of an 8-by-20 foot autoclave for the processing of electrically engineered composite structures for large military aircraft.

That autoclave is used to create composite materials, binding them into strong structures for radomes.

“Later this year, this entire building will be 100% focused on making radomes,” said engineer Matt Bartels.

In 2022, the local company acquired a high-performance radar systems company in Virginia, Quarterbranch Technologies.

The focus this week are jobs that stem from career technical education and the different paths Ohioans can take to land a successful career such as pre-apprenticeships, College Credit Plus, and industry-recognized credentials.

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