Lockheed Martin is planning a major expansion of its space operations at existing facilities in Douglas and Jefferson counties, a move expected to bring up to 1,250 jobs to Colorado over the next four years. The positions are expected to include cybersecurity engineers, software engineers, technicians and administrative staff.
The expansion was announced Thursday at the Site Selector Feedback Dinner during the 2026 Site Selection Conference, according to CBS News Colorado. Governor Jared Polis touted the announcement on Facebook, framing it as proof that Coloradans “are building the future of aerospace,” according to the Governor Jared Polis post.
Where the New Jobs Would Land
The Douglas County portion of the expansion, centered at Lockheed Martin's site in Highlands Ranch, is expected to bring 450 new jobs over four years along with about 190,000 square feet of additional space, per the Denver Gazette. The remainder of the 1,250 new jobs would likely head to the company's Waterton Canyon facility in Jefferson County, the Gazette reported.
This isn't the first growth spurt at the Highlands Ranch campus. Lockheed Martin expanded its space footprint at Arc 470 earlier in the year, signing a lease for 190,505 square feet of office space in the spring, CBS News Colorado noted.
Artemis Ties and a Statewide Footprint
Lockheed Martin Space serves as the primary contractor for NASA's Artemis program Orion spacecraft, according to Colorado Public Radio. The defense and aerospace giant already employs more than 12,000 people across Colorado, with teams in Denver, Boulder, Littleton and Colorado Springs working on deep-space exploration, satellite technology, missile defense, cybersecurity and AI-driven autonomy, according to the company's own careers page on lockheedmartin.com.
A Mixed Picture for Colorado Aerospace
The expansion arrives as Colorado's aerospace sector shows uneven momentum. The industry contributed more than $14 billion to the state's economy and supported more than 61,000 jobs in 2025, and the aerospace and defense workforce grew 14.4% between 2020 and 2025, according to Axios. Jobs in the sector paid an average of $179,500 in 2025, nearly twice the statewide average, the outlet reported.
But core aerospace manufacturing employment fell 4.3% from 2024 to 2025, ranking Colorado 43rd nationally for growth, per the same Axios analysis. The Colorado Sun separately reported that the state saw flat to no aerospace job growth from 2024 to 2025 after outpacing national growth since 2013. Colorado now faces increasingly aggressive competition for aerospace investment from Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Utah and Ohio, Axios reported, and the Colorado Sun noted that Texas alone has allocated $150 million to its Texas Space Commission for grants supporting space-related projects.
More Aerospace Growth South of Denver
Colorado's aerospace gains aren't limited to the Front Range corridor around Denver. Boulder Valley accounts for roughly 9,250 aerospace jobs, or 15% of the statewide total, making it the state's second-largest aerospace hub behind metro Denver, according to Axios. Further south, a separate company, Accu-Precision, recently announced plans to bring 123 new jobs to Colorado Springs with a 110,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near Peak Innovation Park, according to KKTV. Those positions, expected to include manufacturing technicians, operators, engineers and supervisors, will pay an average of just over $73,000 a year, KKTV reported.
