{"id":467324,"date":"2026-10-16T00:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467324\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T00:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:32:15","slug":"lockheed-invests-300m-in-texas-plant-to-feed-missile-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/467324\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed invests $300M in Texas plant to feed missile surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lockheed Martin is investing $300 million to expand its plant in Grand Prairie, Texas, which supports all programs across its Missiles and Fire Control business, including the PAC-3 MSE<\/a> and THAAD<\/a> interceptors, the Precision Strike Missile<\/a> and the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile.<\/p>\n

The company said Oct. 14<\/a> that the expansion will help the plant reach record production levels and deliver components to final-assembly sites, including Camden, Arkansas and Troy, Alabama.<\/p>\n

The project expands the plant\u2019s manufacturing footprint to more than 735,000 square feet. The expansion adds 100,000 square feet of new space and converts 85,000 square feet of office space into factory floor space for automated, high-precision machining.<\/p>\n

Nearly 800 production employees work at the plant, which produced 250,000 parts in 2025. Lockheed said it has added more than 30 high-precision machines in recent months and expects to install nearly 100 additional machines by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

Lockheed also said Hadrian, a California-based manufacturing startup, will install 24 automated machines at the Grand Prairie facility to produce missile parts. Lockheed employees will operate the equipment, which is expected to be up and running by early 2027. The project follows a memorandum of understanding<\/a> the two companies signed in December 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warfighter can\u2019t wait on peacetime timelines,\u201d Hadrian CEO Chris Power said in the release. \u201cRebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom at the scale America needs will take partnerships that combine expertise and speed, and this is what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

The buildout supports a series of framework agreements<\/a> the Defense Department has signed with Lockheed since January, designed to boost missile production and lead to long-term contracts. The first aims to increase PAC-3 MSE production<\/a> from about 600 to roughly 2,000 interceptors per year over seven years.<\/p>\n

The Army followed with a $4.7 billion contract<\/a> in April, then converted it in July<\/a> into a seven-year production contract worth about $58.6 billion in total.<\/p>\n

A separate THAAD framework<\/a>, signed in January, led to a June contract from the Missile Defense Agency<\/a> worth more than $35 billion to quadruple interceptor production. Lockheed and the Pentagon announced similar agreements for the Precision Strike Missile<\/a> on March 25 and for the AIM-260 on Sept. 17.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLockheed Martin has brought together commercial speed and combat-proven performance because America needs both,\u201d said Jim Taiclet, Lockheed\u2019s chairman, president and CEO. \u201cBy combining advanced technology with the expertise of our American workforce, we\u2019re transforming manufacturing to deliver critical munitions at speed and scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis expansion is more than just a new facility; it is a stronger supply chain and a more resilient industrial base,\u201d said Michael Duffey, the Pentagon\u2019s undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment.<\/p>\n

The Grand Prairie investment is part of Lockheed\u2019s plan to spend $8 billion to $9 billion through 2030 to increase munitions production and modernize or expand more than 20 U.S. facilities. The company said it plans to create 6,000 jobs nationwide, including 2,000 in Texas.<\/p>\n

Michael Scanlon is a defense journalist covering air and space warfare. A former U.S. Air Force A-10 crew chief, he has supported land and sea programs for the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin is investing $300 million to expand its plant in Grand Prairie, Texas, which supports all programs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[159052,159056,13606,159057,13605,133622,133618,159054,4020,159053,159055,25776,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-467324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-ausa","tag-ausa-2026","tag-circulated-defense-news","tag-circulated-federal-times","tag-circulated-military-times","tag-defense-news","tag-dn-dnr","tag-fire-control","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-missile-surge","tag-pac-3-mse","tag-plants","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}