L3Harris has been awarded a $250 million follow-on contract from Lockheed Martin to manufacture standard-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System propulsion units, with the work set to take place at a brand-new facility in Camden, Arkansas. The company says the order represents the highest quantity in the program's history, cementing Camden's role as a hub of the nation's missile-making industry.
The contract will be fulfilled inside L3Harris's new 60,000-square-foot Arsenal of Freedom facility in Camden, which is scheduled to open later this year, according to L3Harris. The company has produced GMLRS propulsion units for decades, serving as the program's solid rocket motor provider, and it also manufactures the GMLRS electronic safe-and-arm device and proximity sensor. L3Harris says it has doubled its GMLRS solid rocket motor output in recent years, a trend the new contract is expected to accelerate further.
The deal follows a similar announcement from the company in December, when L3Harris said it had been awarded a follow-on production contract valued up to $200 million to manufacture GMLRS Insensitive Munition propulsion units, per the same account. Together, the two awards point to a steady ramp-up in demand for the artillery rocket motors built in south Arkansas.
Inside the Growing Camden Defense Corridor
L3Harris's Camden location already manufactures more than 115,000 solid rocket motors every year, according to CNN. The outlet describes a defense corridor where Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, Raytheon, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and other contractors are butted up against each other in the small town. Employment figures for L3Harris's Camden operations vary by source: CNN reports the facility employs more than 1,500 people, while the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette puts the figure at about 1,600 people in East Camden.
That growth is not confined to L3Harris. CNN reports that Camden-area factories say they are preparing to increase their workforce by more than 50%, with Lockheed Martin specifically planning a 50% increase to its workforce there as well as expanding and repurposing its facilities. Factory employment in Camden has grown by more than a third since 2020 even as the town's population has continued to decline, CNN notes — a sign of how concentrated the region's defense boom has become even as its broader population trends run the other way.
Patriot Missile Production Also Ramping Up
Much of the Camden expansion is tied to other missile programs beyond GMLRS. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Lockheed Martin plans to triple its production capacity of Patriot PAC-3 MSE missiles at East Camden, from 600 to about 2,000 by 2030, and expects to increase its workforce there from approximately 700 to more than 900 employees. The U.S. government is paying Lockheed Martin about $58 billion to produce PAC-3 missiles, with that work scheduled for completion by March 31, 2035.
L3Harris has its own stake in that buildup. The company broke ground in June on two new East Camden facilities to expand PAC-3 MSE production, and both are expected to be operational in 2027, according to the Magnolia Reporter. That outlet also reported that L3Harris received a binding seven-year commitment from Lockheed Martin valued at $4.7 billion to produce PAC-3 MSE propulsion systems in East Camden.
Pentagon Pushing for More Rocket Motors Nationwide
The latest GMLRS award also fits into a broader federal push to boost solid rocket motor production. The Pentagon plans to invest several hundred million additional dollars in solid rocket motors by the end of the fiscal year, according to Breaking Defense. That outlet reported the L3Harris agreements follow previous deals with Lockheed Martin to scale up production of PAC-3 and THAAD missiles, part of a years-long effort to rebuild the nation's munitions supply chain.
For Camden, a town of modest size now hosting some of the country's most closely watched defense manufacturing, the latest contract adds another chapter to a rapid industrial transformation. With a new facility opening later this year and additional PAC-3 plants due in 2027, the pace of construction and hiring around the Highland Industrial Park shows little sign of slowing.
