L3Harris Technologies [NYSE:LHX] has reached an agreement with Orange County, Virginia, to expand and modernize the company's manufacturing footprint in the area. According to the company, the effort will boost solid rocket motor production and add new jobs in the community.
The defense contractor will build new facilities, buy new equipment and hire 80 employees over the next three years. Most of the $41.2 million investment will come from the cooperative agreement L3Harris subsidiary, Aerojet Rocketdyne, signed with the Department of Defense last year. The company will contribute some capital, and the local government will chip in some $2.18 million in incentives.
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Last April, the DoD's Office of Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) entered a $215.6 million agreement with Aerojet to upgrade facilities in Camden, Arkansas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Orange County, Virginia.
The site in Orange County is home to some of the world's most advanced defense and space propulsion research, development and manufacturing operations. For example, the Orange Altitude Test Facility is a fully-equipped propellant lab and a state-of-the-art air-breathing test facility.
The facility is part of a network that makes complex rocket propulsion systems used to propel missiles and missile defense interceptors, space launch vehicles and national security satellites used in civil and commercial applications.
The government funding came from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act. The U.S. has provided Javelins, Stingers, and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets to the Ukrainian government, and the modernization effort will help replenish DoD ammunition supplies.
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