L3Harris to invest $400 million to expand solid rocket motor production in Arkansas

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(Reuters) -Defense supplier L3Harris Technologies said on Tuesday it will invest $400 million in a new solid rocket motor production campus in Arkansas, marking one of the largest such expansions in the U.S. in decades.

The new 110-acre campus at Camden, Arkansas will feature more than 20 buildings and expand manufacturing capacity of large solid rocket motors by six fold.

The expansion comes as the Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East have spurred demand for solid rocket motors used in long-range missiles and air defense systems.

L3Harris makes rocket motors through its Aerojet Rocketdyne unit, which the defense contractor acquired more than two years ago in a $4.7 billion deal.

L3Harris has been producing rocket motors in Camden since 1979, and began building four solid rocket motor production facilities for smaller tactical weapons in February. The location produces more than 115,000 solid rocket motors of various sizes a year.

The new Camden facility will produce medium and large rocket motors used in missiles, interceptors, and hypersonic weapons that form key parts of U.S. and allied air and missile defense systems.

The company in July said it will expand production of such motors to support robust demand for arms and military equipment amid the Russia-Ukraine war and Middle East conflicts.

The company is investing more than $500 million across its rocket motor sites in Arkansas, Virginia, and Alabama. The investment is also seen as an effort towards contributing to the U.S. government attempts to develop an ambitious homeland missile defense shield dubbed Golden Dome.

(Reporting by Parth Chandna in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Leroy Leo)