Northrop Grumman is expanding the Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) in West Virginia. The company was recently awarded a $178 million contract from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to support the expansion. The investment will help to expand the site’s capacity through the construction of a new modular energetics facility.
- The investment will increase rocket motor energetics and inert processing and builds on Northrop Grumman’s proven performance to quickly scale using advanced manufacturing techniques and digital transformation.
- This facility will use advanced manufacturing processes to configure production for multiple products and consolidate operations to minimize travel, movement of materials and overall downtime.
- The expansion will add to Northrop Grumman’s own investment in rocket motors and increase resiliency by doubling the capacity of the defense supply chain and ensure production capacity to meet the growing demand of solid rocket motors and warheads on time and at affordable scale.
The NAVSEA funding provides ABL the ability to expand its capacity which is increasingly critical to national security as the defense industry experiences a surge in demand for energetic capabilities in response to worldwide events. The expansion will enable the facility to increase the output of critical energetic materials needed to replenish stockpiles that support the U.S. and its allies.
Northrop Grumman is a provider of advanced weapons systems including hypersonic propulsion, armaments, components, missiles, electronics and interceptors. The company operates ABL, a national asset that has produced tactical rocket motors, medium and large caliber ammunition, composite structure, mechanical and electronic fuzes and advanced weapons for the U.S. and its allies since the 1940s.
