A historic World War II U.S. Army Air Corps location in north Alabama is being used by Lockheed Martin to expand their missile assembly plant.
Sarah Reeves, vice president of Lockheed-Martin’s Next Generation Interceptor and Space division, told AL.com that the company anticipates finishing an 88,000-square-foot manufacturing factory in Courtland by the beginning of next year for the long-range ballistic missile defense interceptor.
According to Reeves, it is roughly the size of Costco, and the corporation was thrilled to create a factory especially for this initiative.
According to Lockheed Martin, the Next Generation Interceptor missile is intended to eliminate ballistic missile threats from rogue states.
According to Reeves, the new factory will employ roughly 100 people to assemble missiles and carry out testing. On the campus where Lockheed Martin has been producing defense equipment since 1994, it will be the fifth assembly building.
According to Reeves, the new facility may be crucial to Golden Dome, the Trump administration’s proposed national missile shield, during a briefing held last week prior to the Space & Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville. According to her, missile parts would be transported, assembled, and tested at the site.
According to her, the college, located in a small rural village in Lawrence County, employs roughly 400 people in total.
Over the past five years or so, we have made significant investments in Courtland, Reeves stated.
A 65,000-square-foot missile manufacturing facility was inaugurated by Lockheed in 2021 as a digital first center for the advancement of hypersonic strike technology.
We collaborated with the city of Courtland in 2023 to convert its part-time fire department to full-time operations, guaranteeing round-the-clock emergency response, Reeves continued.
“We continue to build more missiles there,” Reeves said, adding that the company also obtained a $1.8 million grant from the state of Alabama to upgrade the highway infrastructure surrounding the site.
With it, we’ve been expanding the support services and infrastructure, Reeves stated. Additionally, we offer an apprenticeship program for advanced manufacturing technicians that employs and develops local people to work on national defense systems like NGI. As part of that initiative, we have hired 200 North Alabamans, and we are currently in our 29th class.
North Alabama, according to Reeves, is where Lockheed’s NGI production truly gets started.
According to Reeves, we’re thrilled about the expansion that NGI has brought to northern Alabama, which includes the company’s 2023 opening of a 25,000-square-foot, $16.5 million missile system integration lab on the Huntsville site.
She stated that the city’s skill had a significant impact on our capacity to fulfill this important goal.
Stories by
Scott Turner
-
Just how many people live in Huntsville? City officials say more than 249K
-
What does the future hold for aging Huntsville football stadium? City wants to know what you think
-
One of Huntsville s largest employers helps U.S. Army stay on top of latest missile, air defense technology
-
Ivey names new Marshall County Commission chairman
