BAE Systems has closed on its first-ever facility in Weld County, a 130,000-square-foot production plant on about 13 acres that the defense and aerospace giant plans to staff with more than 200 new workers over the next one to two years. The company says the site could eventually employ around 600 people once it reaches full capacity, with production slated to begin in early 2028.
The purchase was confirmed in a release distributed via PR Newswire, which states the company has closed on the purchase of a 130,000-square-foot production facility in Weld County. The facility will expand BAE Systems’ capacity for space-based hardware and sensor system production, according to the same release, and will mark the company’s first-ever presence in the county. BAE plans to spend the remainder of 2026 retrofitting the building and procuring equipment before opening it for production in early 2028.
Separately, BizWest reports that BAE Systems paid $30 million in early October to acquire the former Danfoss Power Solutions facility, placing the plant at 4120 Specialty Place in unincorporated Weld County. BizWest also reports that the company considered Ohio and Texas as alternative sites before settling on the Colorado location.
New Plant Joins Existing Colorado Footprint
The Weld County site will join BAE Systems’ existing production facilities in Boulder, Broomfield and Westminster, per the company’s own release. ColoradoBiz similarly notes that the Weld County location will join BAE Systems’ nearby production facilities in those three cities, according to ColoradoBiz. As reported by the Denver Gazette, Governor Jared Polis said Colorado leads the nation in aerospace and advanced manufacturing and welcomed the Weld County expansion, adding that the investment will bring hundreds of good-paying jobs to the area. Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera praised the project as another achievement for the state’s aerospace ecosystem, the Gazette reported.
The roles BAE expects to fill include manufacturing technicians, manufacturing engineers, machinists, manufacturing planners, production supervisors and supply chain planners, according to the Gazette’s reporting. Weld County Board of Commissioners Chair Scott James said the facility represents an opportunity for skilled, high-paying factory and engineering jobs along with economic growth and diversification, per the same report.
Employee Counts Diverge Between Sources
BAE Systems’ total workforce figures differ depending on the source. The Gazette’s reporting attributes to BAE Systems a count of more than 41,000 employees companywide, with close to 5,000 based in Colorado, while BizWest separately reports the company currently employs more than 100,000 worldwide. BAE Systems is headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, and Falls Church, Virginia, according to the Gazette.
Tax Incentives Tied to Job and Wage Targets
The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $11,184,835 in a performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit for BAE Systems over an eight-year period, a figure confirmed by a dated item from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The commission generally develops such incentive packages to assist existing-business expansions and new-company relocations intended to grow jobs statewide, according to a separate notice from the same office covering August 2026 EDC approvals. The Gazette additionally reported that the commission approved CHIPS refundable tax credits for BAE Systems, under which the company may elect to receive up to $8.6 million of earned CHIPS incentives as refundable at 80% of their value, with the incentives contingent on meeting net new job creation and salary requirements. A separate Opportunity Now tax credit will support purchase of $5.3 million in equipment through a refundable tax credit covering half the cost, the Gazette reported, and the investment is intended to help train and retain close to 17,000 jobs across the next 15 years.
Aerospace Sector Growth Faces Headwinds
Colorado’s aerospace industry contributed more than $14 billion to the state’s economy and supported more than 61,000 jobs in 2025, according to Axios. The sector’s workforce grew 14.4% between 2020 and 2025, Axios reported, though core aerospace manufacturing employment actually fell 4.3% from 2024 to 2025. Boulder Valley alone accounts for roughly 9,250 aerospace jobs, or 15% of the statewide total, ranking second only to metro Denver, per the outlet’s analysis.
That growth is increasingly contested. Axios reports that Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Utah and Ohio are making increasingly aggressive plays for aerospace companies and investment, while Colorado ranks 38th nationally for cost of doing business and 40th for housing affordability. The state has also offered up to $11.2 million in performance-based tax credits to an unnamed aerospace and defense company considering a separate Broomfield project that could create up to 600 jobs, according to the same Axios report.
A related incentive case, reported by the Denver Post, describes a previously unnamed applicant known as Project Mercury that plans to invest $194 million in a new manufacturing facility producing defense satellites. The Post reported that the most likely candidate behind that application was BAE Systems, though that identification was not confirmed. BizWest reports that the Weld County expansion was referred to as Project Mercury and Project Sodium during OEDIT review, after moving from an initially considered Broomfield location to unincorporated Weld County.
