Aerospace defense contractor Raytheon Company is in the final stages of selecting a 25,000-square-foot training and development center set to open in Los Angeles County this summer, company officials said Monday.

The center, which will employ 150 people, will offer training and technology development for law enforcement and public safety agencies throughout the Western United States, they said.

Officials said Los Angeles County was selected because of its proximity to other population centers in the West.

“The mission,” said Dan Crowley, president of the company’s Network Centric Systems division, “will be to test and certify current and future technologies for use by public safety agencies.”

Raytheon, which is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts but operates its Space and Airborne Systems division out of El Segundo, has a similar center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“This is the next logical step,” Bill Iannacci, the company’s director of civil communications solutions, said of the planned new West Coast facility. “We’ve been in this market for a while, but this is another step showing our clear commitment.”

In addition to offering training for law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders on such equipment as mobile radio systems, broadband systems and handheld computers, Iannacci said, center employees will try to development new solutions in those areas.

Raytheon has about 75,000 employees worldwide, including 10,000 in California.

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