Axios Huntsville
October 05, 2026
1 big thing: 🧭 Advanced Navigation's major expansion
Advanced Navigation America is launching an expansion that could more than triple its Huntsville workforce.
Why it matters: The expansion adds to Huntsville's growing advanced manufacturing field, fueled by a deep talent pool and proximity to aerospace and defense customers.
Zoom out: Headquartered in Australia, Advanced Navigation manufactures navigational systems for when GPS isn't available for customers like Boeing, NASA and Anduril.
- The facility will produce inertial navigation and tracking products, said Mike Cohen, president of Advanced Navigation America.
- Inertial navigation uses a known starting position to calculate location, known as dead reckoning, which is useful for when GPS is unavailable, like at the bottom of the ocean or deep in a mine.
Zoom in: The new facility will be the company's Position, Navigation and Timing Center of Excellence, and could bring its workforce from fewer than 30 to as many as 100 workers, Cohen said, from high-end engineering to supply chain and manufacturing personnel.
- It's backed by a $110 million Series C funding round, which is also being spread around investment in Australia and the U.K., he said.
- While the Huntsville project qualifies for some incentives based on its location in the former Line-X facility near the airport, he said the company is "making this investment because it makes sense for the corporation."
Driving the news: Demand for the company's systems is largely being driven by two things, he said: autonomous platforms and the growing commercial need for affordable systems that can be deployed at scale quickly.
- Think counter-UAS capabilities for defense customers and tracking assets through GPS-denied areas for commercial customers.
What they're saying: "Anybody who deals with aviation, space from around the country has facilities and capabilities (at Cummings Research Park)," he told Axios.
- "It makes it easier for us to partner not only directly with the government, but also those big primes — and we're in the process of doing that in many cases."
The bottom line: Initially, the company will produce about 25–30% of what its Australian operations produce, Cohen said, but eventually, "we will probably replicate and be equal to them."
📢 News for your community
2. Failed execution puts lethal injection in focus
Lethal injections are under scrutiny after Christa Pike survived two rounds of drugs during Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her.
Why it matters: Lethal injection has been the dominant U.S. execution method for decades, accounting for roughly 89% of the 1,683 executions carried out since 1976, per the Death Penalty Information Center.
Zoom in: Alabama uses lethal injection as its primary execution method, most recently on Sept. 17, when Jeffrey Lee was executed for a 1998 double murder, the state's second execution of 2026.
Driving the news: Pike, convicted of killing a classmate three decades ago, survived two rounds of lethal injection drugs Wednesday in what would have been the state's first execution of a woman in 200 years.
- In response, Gov. Bill Lee halted executions and ordered a "comprehensive, third-party review" of the failed attempt.
The big picture: Execution protocols vary by state, but lethal injections generally follow the same basic process.
Lethal injections don't always work as planned
Pike's case is not the first lethal injection gone wrong. The DPIC says 75 of 1,054 lethal injections (about 7%) were botched from 1890 to 2010 — the most of any method.
What they're saying: Witnesses to some executions have described prisoners gasping for air and struggling to breathe.
- Autopsies have found evidence of prisoner suffering from pulmonary edema, which is a buildup of fluid in the lungs that can create the same sensation as drowning, per NPR.
Case in point: In 2022, Alabama called off Kenneth Smith's execution after officials couldn't insert an IV before his death warrant expired.
- Smith survived but was later executed in 2024 through nitrogen hypoxia, a first in American history.
Go deeper: America is seeing an uptick in executions
3. Orbit: 🎤 Temple Grandin at UAH
Axios Huntsville
