Pasquotank County commissioners met with Blackwater officials Friday to discuss possible new uses at the company's target systems manufacturing facility at Pasquotank Commerce Park.

Assistant County Manager Rodney Bunch said commissioners were invited to Blackwater's Moyock facility Friday "to take a tour of one of Blackwater USA operations."

He declined to say what operations were discussed, but sources have said Blackwater's helicopter manufacturing and maintenance was among possible operations that the company is considering expanding to its target facility at Commerce Park.

Bunch said county and Blackwater officials were scheduled later on Friday to meet at the Commerce Park target facility to discuss the "possibility of a different use ... to determine if that building would be feasible and it would fit in Commerce Park."

Bunch said it's too early to discuss any details of what was discussed, and that no requests or proposals have been made yet.

"I think it's going to be a positive for Pasquotank County," Bunch said.

Sources have said it's possible Blackwater might want to bring some of its helicopter maintenance work to its Commerce Park site, where target systems manufacturing has reportedly slowed down,

Commerce Park is about eight miles north of Elizabeth City off U.S. Highway 17.

Blackwater signed a

lease-sales agreement with Pasquotank County in 2004 to use the longtime vacant shell building at Commerce Park for use by the private security firm's manufacturing division. Blackwater chose Pasquotank County over other sites as far away as Greenville for its target division, which brought an estimated 50 to 100 jobs to the area.

Blackwater Target Systems designs and builds shooting-range targets for law enforcement and other agencies. In addition, remote-piloted blimps also have reportedly been made at its Commerce Park facility.

Blackwater USA, headquartered in Moyock, is one of several private contractors providing U.S. military assistance in Iraq.