L3Harris pushes ahead on Arkansas rocket motor factories
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FILE PHOTO: Signage is displayed at the L3Harris Technologies, Inc booth at Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week for defense companies, in Tampa, Florida, U.S., May 7, 2024. REUTERS/Luke Sharrett/File Photo
(Reuters) - L3Harris Technologies said on Thursday it has begun constructing four solid rocket motor production facilities at its Camden site in Arkansas as demand for missiles accelerates amid escalating geopolitical tensions.
The expansion, part of a $215.6 million agreement under the Pentagon's Defense Production Act program, aims to increase domestic manufacturing capacity through the facilities, which will include propellant processing buildings.
The Camden facilities include a 60,000 square foot space - big enough to optimize the component assembly process, reducing the distances some motors travel during manufacturing by 80%, thus speeding production. Other buildings at the facility include a dedicated mixer building to combine chemicals needed for the motors, and propellant processing buildings to support increased motor production.
The defense contractor makes rocket motors through its Aerojet Rocketdyne unit - which it bought in a deal that closed in 2023.
The unit is a key producer of weapon components as the U.S. seeks to replace aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles and build an inventory of tactical missiles.
L3Harris has since increased spending on the unit by 84%, investments that have helped improve facilities and processes after years of under investment and late deliveries, Aerojet's former president Ross Niebergall told Reuters last year.
Demand for arms and military equipment has ballooned as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, with militaries around the world aiming to replenish stockpiles, benefiting contractors such as L3Harris. (This Feb. 20 story has been corrected to say Arkansas, not New Jersey, in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Diane Craft)
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