Lockheed Martin and local officials break ground for a new expansion that will add to the company’s missile production in Troy. (Photos/Lockheed Martin)
By Troy Turner
TROY, Alabama — The escalation of recent military action in the Middle East, Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, and a steady buildup of island defenses in the Pacific Theater continue to bring attention to the need for more munitions, and faster. That includes missiles.
Lockheed Martin, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Alabama at facilities in Huntsville, Courtland and Troy, is one of the U.S. military’s largest providers of weapons, including for missile defense with the production of Patriot, THAAD and Next Generation Interceptor missiles all being developed and produced in Alabama.
Last week, the company was joined by local officials in Troy to celebrate a groundbreaking for its forthcoming Munitions Production Center, which will be called Building 47.
The center will add 87,000 square feet of production space, supporting Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and future work contributing to the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program, which is primarily being developed in Huntsville.
“Lockheed Martin is ready now to meet the urgent demand to expand production capacity,” said Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO Jim Taiclet. “We have already invested well over a billion dollars in this expansion, which directly strengthens deterrence and helps ensure our service members and allies have the capabilities they need when they need them.”
The expansion will nearly double the facility’s current production space and is expected to generate a significant number of new jobs over the next three years, Lockheed Martin officials said.
THAAD, in addition to the U.S., is operated by the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is the only U.S. system designed to intercept targets outside and inside the atmosphere and is integrated with PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) to provide the warfighter with an expanded battlespace and enhanced flexibility.
Lockheed Martin is working with the U.S. Navy to implement the PAC-3 MSE aboard naval vessels, thus expanding the spectrum even wider for the use of Patriot missiles that in their early days were primarily used by land-based Army units.
There are multiple revisions with the PAC-3 iteration that greatly enhance the Patriots, including a change in its size that allows launchers to be loaded and fire 12-16 missiles instead of four.
Also, a change with its hit-to-kill technology, using seekers being produced by subcontractor Boeing, at its Huntsville facility.
The War Department has made clear to the defense industry that its demand for missile defense will only grow in the coming years, and thus the moves by companies such as Lockheed Martin to expand the role and weapon diversity of production sites such as what this new expansion will do in Troy.
WHY IT MATTERS
Among other details released by Lockheed Martin during the Troy groundbreaking events:
- Future Growth in Alabama: Lockheed Martin is planning several additional facility groundbreakings and expansions in the state in support of other programs including Next Generation Interceptor (NGI), AGM-158 and Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW).
- Alabama Community Support: Lockheed Martin is strengthening Alabama communities through investments in military and veteran support, STEM education and community resilience. In 2025, the company awarded more than $640,000 in grants to 18 nonprofit partners statewide and has invested nearly $200,000 in the STEM Academy Lab at the Center for Advanced Academics and Accelerated Learning in Pike County Schools, supporting hands-on student learning with advanced tools and technologies.
- Multibillion-Dollar Investment: Lockheed Martin is investing more than $9 billion through 2030 and is already using that funding to scale munitions production and upgrade or build more than 20 facilities across the United States to meet heightened defense demand.
- Supply Chain Resilience: Lockheed Martin is strengthening resilience of our supply chain, deepening collaboration with suppliers and driving innovation across operations. Last week Lockheed Martin hosted a summit with suppliers that are critical to scaling munitions production, focusing on building stronger relationships, emphasizing speed and driving solutions to better prepare for current and future threats.
- Acquisition Transformation Strategy: Lockheed Martin was the first in the industry to announce a framework agreement for munitions acceleration under the Department of War’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy, tripling production capacity of the combat-proven PAC-3 MSE interceptor. Following that agreement, Lockheed Martin has announced further agreements to quadruple production of THAAD and Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
- Manufacturing Details: Lockheed Martin has more than 340,000 square feet of dedicated operations space for THAAD across nine U.S. sites, with nearly 750 U.S.-based suppliers across 42 states.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be contacted at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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