PALM BAY, Fla. — A mega merger in Brevard County is now official.
Harris Corp. and L3 have merged to become Florida's largest aerospace and defense company.
- New company called L3Harris
- 6th largest defense company in the U.S.
- Space, weather forecasting, aircraft and military communications
The new 50,000 employee corporation will be called L3Harris, and it will keep its headquarters in Brevard County.
Harris CEO William Brown and former L3 chief Chris Kubasik led a celebration at the L3Harris Technology Center Monday.
The company has 50,000 employees worldwide, with nearly half being engineers and scientists.
Brown says thousands of those employees are based in Brevard County, and that's why it was important to keep the HQ on the Space Coast.
"It was important to me, to the company, that we headquarter here in Melbourne," said Brown. "Seven thousand people in Brevard County, 8,400 around the state, it was important that we put the headquarters here."
The all-stock merger means L3Harris is the sixth largest defense company in the United States, with divisions working on the space program, weather forecasting, aircraft and military communications.
Brown expects the company will hire more workers in the near future.
L3 is closing down its New York HQ.