In an industry ranked among the top in the country for “aerospace manufacturing attractiveness,” some of the larger aerospace companies in Texas are poised to receive tax cuts in the neighborhood of $64 million over the next five years.

Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Boeing are all among those set to cash in starting this year, Your Stephenville Tx reported.

Supporters of the program tout the investment as being essential to the state’s efforts to become more competitive in that stratosphere. Currently, the industry provides in the neighborhood of 44,000 manufacturing jobs and roughly $22 billion in annual economic impact.

“What we are trying to do is level the playing field so that (no aerospace company) has an excuse either to build a manufacturing facility in another state or expand a manufacturing facility in another state,” President of the Texas Association of Manufacturers Tony Bennett told Your Stephenville, adding that lawmakers in other states have been crafting legislation aimed at attracting aerospace companies for quite some time.

Lawmakers approved the tax plan in last spring's legislative session.

The state’s No. 12 ranking for “aerospace manufacturing attractiveness” comes courtesy of a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey. The state ranked as high as No. 2 in 2019.