L3Harris opens second Huntsville plant amid "surging demand"

• L3 Harris invested more than $20 million in the 379,000-square-foot space, allowing the company to manufacture inert rocket motor parts in a highly flexible, scalable and efficient space, it says.
• The facility, AMF-South, makes rocket parts like nozzles, exit cones, aft closures and cases. L3Harris' AMF-North, a 136,000-square-foot facility at Cummings Research Park, opened in 2019.

What they're saying: "This transition reflects a long-term vision of how we scale our components across the business to meet surging demand," said Scott Alexander, president of Missile Solutions at Aerojet Rocketdyne/L3Harris, at an event Monday celebrating the opening.

• "Huntsville, after all, is our Center for Excellence for inert solid rocket manufacturing."
• He said the company has been able to reduce the distance an inert rocket motor part travels during manufacturing by more than 95%.

Zoom in: Parts from the facility will power defense programs including the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, Javelin and Standard Missile, said Angel Crespo, vice president of operations, engineering and PMX at Aerojet Rocketdyne.

• L3Harris acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2023. Crespo said the company is investing almost half a billion dollars in modernizing, expanding and improving solid rocket motor production in Huntsville and elsewhere.

• Forty workers are employed at AMF-South, and the company plans to hire 100 in the next few years.

The big picture: Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, program executive officer for missiles and space at Redstone Arsenal, said there's a "significant demand signal" from around the world for advanced missile defense and other military readiness capabilities.

• It's "about being ready to go fight and win at any point in time. ... We can't be ready without the great, tremendous work you all do on a daily basis," he said.