The North East is the frontrunner for a multimillion-pound space manufacturing and research base - with the search already on for potential sites, the man behind the plans has revealed.
A decision could be made this year on whether to bring the Lockheed Martin UK facility to the region.
And while Paul Livingston, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UK, did not rule out other regions for the £50m factory and R&D site he stressed "there's a reason we've come to the North East first."
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The US based firm said it was already looking at a number of undisclosed sites across the region and suggested that, if successful, the region would host the facility in the next few years, potentially leading to 2,300 jobs.
Speaking to BusinessLive at a summit of more than 100 space and aerospace businesses in Newcastle, Mr Livingston said: "It's early days in terms of time lines but I'd think we'd want to be making decisions this year. This isn't something we're thinking might appear in five years time - it'll be a lot sooner than that."
He pointed to Lockheed's £2.4bn spending - even without space investment - in the UK last year alone as evidence of the potential value of the project to the North East.
He added: "There's a real reason we've come here first. We think there's an industry here, a heritage, a skills base and we think there are physical facilities as well. We've actually looked at sites in the region so it's not just a speculative look at a map - we've looked at pieces of land.
"Our new chief executive in the States, Jim Taiclet, has an agenda of international growth. He sees the rest of the world not just as a place to sell stuff to, but as a place to be present. We do research and development all the time at other Lockheed Martin facilities in the UK - we've got 23 sites all around the country.
"In terms of space - the thing that makes a sustainable business for the long term is research and development and actually generating intellectual property locally. We're very passionate about that.
"If you just build a manufacturing facility - I say 'just' but these would be among the most high value jobs on the planet - and work eventually dries up or you hit a fallow period, it's hard to retain the facility. But with a research and development arm to generate new things for that business, it's a really positive thing.
"Of the 109 organisations here in Newcastle today, the vast majority of them are local. That tells you there's a healthy space industry here. That's the reason we've looked at this area first and foremost."
The proposed facility could host work on both civilian and defence space technology - including everything from GPS technology that powers smartphone maps to climate change monitoring.
Lockheed Martin's space business generated roughly £8.5bn ($11.8bn) in sales in 2021, and its commercial space arm is almost as big as its military space arm.
The firm has built 945 satellites and played a role in every Nasa mission to Mars, including the Mars lander programme. It had approval to set up a space port for launching satellites into orbit from Unst in the Shetland Islands.
Delegates at the Newcastle conference were told much of the knowledge that would be needed to grow the UK's space industry would at first come from the US.
Nik Smith, Lockheed Martin’s UK and Europe regional director for Space, said the proposed facility would operate at double the national average productivity rate, and would contribute an estimated £1.71bn to the UK economy over 10 years.
Addressing the summit via pre-recorded video, the Secretary of State for International Trade, Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan said her department had worked with Lockheed Martin on scoping the opportunity.
She said: "This is a great opportunity for local and regional suppliers and supply chain partners to understand the future opportunities to work with Lockheed Martin as part of their growing UK space sector presence.
"This summit comes at an exciting time for the UK space sector. In the last six months the Government has published its National Space Strategy and the new Defence Space Strategy because space is increasingly important to the UK's economic and national security interests, as well as our place in the world."
She also said the North East Satellite Centre of Excellence, its universities and research experience made it a "fantastic opportunity" for space technology.
Mr Livingston said the conflict in Ukraine did not impact Lockheed Martin's decision making process, which is typically guided by long term contractual agreements. He pointed to the firm's highly valuable programme to produce F-35 fighter jets for aircraft carriers until 2068 - which has seen about £3.3bn investment since it started in 2006.
"The type of technology that we provide and bring enable the west, the free world, the rules-based order to be able to defend against those types of threats that are out there. So, I think it probably raises the criticality of investment in the Government's mind - and there's been a lot of discussion about defence spending. What I would say is that we'll always be there to support the Government of the United Kingdom."
Lockheed Martin's announcements come just days ahead of the North East Space Conference being held in Durham this week, which is expected to attract SMEs interested in the £16.4bn UK space market.
