Something in the Air: Construction at U.S. Missile Plants Adds Up to Billions

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Around $4.5 billion worth of current and planned construction investment is aimed at U.S. sites that manufacture missiles and their components.

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Expansions Rule the Day

Military weapons are a fact of life, and conflicts pulling on U.S. resources in Ukraine and the Middle East are providing reasons for U.S. guided and ballistic missile manufacturers to step up to the plate with multiple construction projects. Recent news reports indicate stocks of U.S. missiles and their components have been substantially depleted. Industrial Info Resources data indicate at least $4.5 billion worth of current construction and future projects planned at U.S. missile-manufacturing plants.

Active construction at U.S. missile plants is primarily geared toward expansions of existing plants, allowing manufacturers to grow and vary production without the capital outlays and increased permitting procedures for a new site. As a refresher, ballistic missiles are simply launched at a target without further guidance, while a guided missile has an active guidance system in place that it allows it change its flight path toward a target.

By the far the largest expansion presently underway comes from Lockheed Martin Corporation, which earlier this year broke ground on Building 47 at its campus in Troy, Alabama. The 87,000-square-foot building will house production of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor components. The THADD is a guided anti-ballistic missile system that uses guided missiles to intercept airborne enemy ballistic missiles before the enemy missiles are able to reach their targets. It is a mobile, truck-mounted system.

Lockheed-Martin broke ground on the new building in May of this year, with overall investment expected to reach above $1 billion. Readers can access details of the project, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here. The building will also allow future work on the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) system, which, different from THADD, is geared primarily toward long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles. That missile system will be manufactured at the company's Courtland, Alabama, site, in the north of the state more than 200 miles from the Troy campus.

The components for guided missiles--specifically the solid rocket motors (SMRs) they use--are driving construction at Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings' campus in Camden, Arkansas, which is funded in part by the government through the U.S. Defense Production Act. While all underway expansions such Lockheed-Martin's and Aerojet Rocketdyne's represent substantial spending, the possibility of even more investments are on the horizon, including grassroot plants built from the ground up.

Future Projects

The grassroot projects being tracked by Industrial Info Resources primarily involve missile rockets and engines. One of these is gearing up in Bloomfield, Indiana, on a 550-acre site near the U.S. Department of Defense's Crane Army Ammunition Activity campus. There, a joint venture of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions and Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems will develop SRMs for U.S. and Israeli defense systems. The project is expected to be completed in early 2028.

While most of the underway expansion projects focus on guided missiles, a ballistic missile-centered expansion is gearing up from Lockheed Martin for a submarine-launched system--specifically the next generation of the Trident II Strategic Weapons System D5 missile system for the U.S. Navy. The company is investing around $140 million to more than the triple the size of its facility in Titusville, Florida, through a 225,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

Key Takeaways

• At least $4.5 billion of current and future construction projects are on the books for U.S. missile-manufacturing sites.
• Some of the biggest projects come from Lockheed Martin Corporation.
• Underway activity primarily consists of expansions and additions at existing sites, including Lockheed Martin's Building 47, a $1.25 billion construction project underway in Troy, Alabama.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).