L3Harris: $1.27bn to Boost Solid Rocket Motor Production

L3Harris Technologies, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and the Orange County Board of Supervisors has announced an agreement to expand L3Harris’ solid rocket motor production capacity at its site in Orange County. 

According to information posted on Orange Country local government’s website, the expansion is worth US$1.27bn. The expansion to L3Harris’ solid rocket motor production capacity is expected to more than double the manufacturing space and create more than 350 jobs over the next five years. 

The investment comes at a time of multiple global conflicts, including both in Iran and Ukraine. 

The solid rocket motor expansion

L3Harris plans to construct new facilities at the site to support key solid rocket motor production operations spanning multiple US Department of War programmes. The company will create what it calls Virginia Advanced Propulsion Facilities (VAPF). 

The new VAPF will support company operations such as mixing, grinding, casting and final assembly.

Ken Bedingfield, President, Missile Solutions at L3Harris, says: “L3Harris’ continued investments in solid rocket motor facilities are bolstering manufacturing capacity for key national defence programs.” 

“With a talented workforce and a community committed to long-term success, our expanded presence in Virginia will deliver additional capability to the Department of War and our allies.”

The Orange County site

L3Harris’ site in Virginia currently has 256,000 square feet of manufacturing space and serves as the company’s Center of Excellence for Propellant Research and Small to Medium-sized Solid Rocket Motor Production.

It is also home to three state-of-the-art test facilities: the Orange Static Test Facility, Orange Aerothermal Propulsion Lab and Orange Altitude Test Site.

L3Harris is also modernising and expanding solid rocket motor production at its sites in Camden, Arkansas and Huntsville, Alabama. 

The company says that its ongoing investments in new facilities, equipment and processes will enable it to “double, triple and quadruple solid rocket motor production rates for a range of key programmes”.

Congressional Representative Eugene Vindman says: “I’m pleased to see L3Harris expanding its operations in Virginia, bringing hundreds of good-paying jobs to Orange County while strengthening manufacturing capacity for critical national defence programs.”

“This investment will more than double their footprint and build on a long track record of success in the region. I look forward to continuing to partner with L3Harris to support this growth, create new opportunities for our workforce and advance the aerospace innovation that drives both our economy and our national security.”

What are solid rocket motors? 

According to Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of L3Harris, solid rocket motors use a solid propellant that contains both fuel and oxidiser, which allows these motors to operate across air, sea, land and space.

During manufacturing, the solid propellant is baked to a pencil-eraser consistency. Once ignited, it produces high temperature combustion gases to generate thrust to power a missile or a rocket.

Solid rocket motors support a range of defence programs such as hypersonic systems.

Geopolitical ramifications and the US

US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defence to rebrand to the Department of War in an Executive Order in 2025. 

The Executive Order said: “This name sharpens the Department’s focus on our own national interest and our adversaries’ focus on our willingness and availability to wage war to secure what is ours.”

The investment in L3Harris comes at a time of multiple global conflicts including Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Ukraine. The current US administration has conducted military action in Venezuela and Iran and some other countries such as Nigeria.

Touring an L3Harris’ Rocket Motor site in Camden in February 2026, Secretary of the Department of War, Pete Hegseth, said: “You are the patriots ensuring that our warriors are never, ever in a fair fight.

"The more than 115,000 solid rocket motors that you’re building every single year can’t be matched.”

According to BBC News, President Trump has called for US defence spending to be increased to US$1.5tn in 2027, 50% higher than the 2026 budget, for what he called "very troubled and dangerous times”.