Fairlead Integrated is building a manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach

Fairlead Integrated has started construction on a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach. It will be larger than the size of the company’s existing manufacturing site in Chesapeake.

The company said the project at 561 London Bridge Road will extend Fairlead’s manufacturing footprint and allow the Portsmouth-based company to prepare for increased demand from military customers for new hardware and software.

Fairlead makes products that are part of mission critical systems in the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers, Virginia-class submarines, all classes of surface combatants and amphibious ships. It supplies components such as integrated electrical and control systems, large-scale mechanical fabrications and precision machined metal components.

“We are excited about expanding and moving our operations to Virginia Beach,” Fairlead Integrated President Fred Pasquine said in a statement.

The new facility will produce a variety of products made to military specifications, including control systems, such as the aircraft elevator on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers; variable-speed drives and communication and networking tools. It also will include a test lab that is double the size of the company’s current lab.

“Manufacturing is a vital segment of our economy that employs more than 51,000 workers throughout Hampton Roads,” Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms said in a statement. “I’m pleased that Fairlead Integrated is joining this global business community, and that its work here will also support our military around the world.”

Fairlead Integrated, a veteran-owned company, has retained The Miller Group as the developer and design build contractor for its new building at Oceana East Industrial Park.

Fairlead Integrated has facilities in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Newport News.