Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced yesterday that Triumph Aerostructures-Vought Aircraft Division will expand its 622,000-square-foot Milledgeville building by 60,000 square feet. The approximate $17 million investment is expected to create up to 250 jobs.

Work and growth plans extend through 2014. Specifically, the facility will carry out work packages awarded to Vought by the Boeing Co. in 2009 for the 777 and the 787 Dreamliner. The facility now produces various composite parts for the 787 Dreamliner.

Details have not yet been finalized regarding the particulars of the state and local incentives the company will receive for the expansion project.

The Milledgeville facility is a premier aircraft composite component fabrication and assembly operation. Using state-of-the-art technology, its employees produce advanced composite, fiberglass and metal-bonded structures for a variety of aircraft, including Boeing, G.E. Middle River Aircraft Systems, Goodrich, Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman and Sikorsky. The facility also is a licensed FAA (N3GR436Y) and EASA (5892) repair station.

Deal said Georgia has made a concerted effort to develop a deep, highly skilled labor pool for this strategic growth industry to leverage the state's logistical strengths and support its "innovation economy" drawing industry leaders such as Triumph.

The Milledgeville facility began in 1975 as Grumman Aerospace, then after a quarter-century became part of Vought Aircraft Industries in July 2000. Ten years later, in June 2010, Triumph Group, Inc. acquired the company and renamed it Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division.