Sunday, November 8, 2026
TGOs

The business of defense

Get the Weekly

Industry · Rocket motors

L3Harris opens GMLRS rocket motor plant designed to double capacity

The Camden, Arkansas, facility is part of a $216 million federal agreement covering several sites. Arkansas’ governor said motor production at the new plant would begin soon.

L3Harris opened its Arsenal of Freedom solid rocket motor facility in Camden, Arkansas, on Oct. 20, 2026. The company designed the plant to double current capacity, with room for additional growth. Together with additional propellant processing facilities, it will support production for the Army’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).1

L3Harris designed its Camden plant to double current capacity

Arsenal of Freedom solid rocket motor facility, October 2026

Double current capacityDesign goal for the Camden facility
$216 millionMulti-site cooperative agreement signed in 2023

The facility is part of the agreement, which also covers new facilities in Orange County, Virginia, and equipment and digital upgrades in Huntsville, Alabama.

Source: L3Harris, Oct. 20, 2026. As of Oct. 21, 2026.

TGOs tgos.io

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said motor production at the new plant would begin soon. L3Harris did not give a baseline capacity, output rate or production start date for the plant with the opening.1

The facility’s completion is part of a $216 million Defense Production Act Title III cooperative agreement L3Harris signed in 2023 to support increased demand for tactical missiles, including Javelin, Stinger and GMLRS. That agreement also covered new facilities in Orange County, Virginia, and equipment and digital upgrades in Huntsville, Alabama.1

The GMLRS facility is one part of a broader propulsion expansion at Camden, where L3Harris is also executing the Arkansas Advanced Propulsion Facilities project and two new facilities to support PAC-3 propulsion production.1 The company says more than $1 billion of its multibillion-dollar investment in solid rocket motor capacity expansion is designated for the Camden site.2

Sources (2)
  1. L3Harris release, Oct. 20, 2026 www.l3harris.com
  2. L3Harris, Arkansas Advanced Propulsion Facilities build-out accelerates, Oct. 1, 2026 www.l3harris.com
Keep readingBack to top ↑

Next story

Industry

L3Harris missile orders run far ahead of revenue

Missile Solutions posted an 11.8x book-to-bill ratio, and L3Harris listed seven-year contracts to scale missile-defense propulsion production.

L3Harris's Missile Solutions segment booked orders worth 11.8 times its revenue in the third quarter of 2026. Companywide orders reached $19.3 billion, bringing backlog to $53.2 billion.1

Missile Solutions was 11.8x

Third-quarter book-to-bill by segment

Missile Solutions11.8x

Third-quarter book-to-bill by segment: Space & Mission Systems 1.0x, Communications & Spectrum Dominance 1.9x, Missile Solutions 11.8x

L3Harris defines orders as funded and unfunded awards, excluding unexercised options and potential IDIQ-type orders

Source: L3Harris third-quarter 2026 results, SEC Exhibit 99.1. As of October 29, 2026.

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

L3Harris counts funded and unfunded awards as orders, excluding unexercised options and potential orders under ordering-type contracts.1

Among its third-quarter and recent business highlights, L3Harris listed seven-year undefinitized contracts to scale propulsion production for two missile-defense programs. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) contract is worth $6.3 billion, excluding escalations. The PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor contract is worth $4.7 billion, excluding escalations. The release does not specify how much of either contract's value entered third-quarter orders.1

Across the company, management raised the bottom of its annual revenue guidance range to $23.5 billion from $23.2 billion. The upper end stayed at $23.7 billion.1

Pointing to the record companywide backlog, President and CEO Sam Mehta said in L3Harris's Oct. 29, 2026 earnings release, “Our priority now is to convert that demand into results.”1

Sources (1)
  1. L3Harris Exhibit 99.1, third-quarter 2026 results (SEC 8-K, Oct. 29, 2026) www.sec.gov

Next story

Contracts · Munitions

L3Harris says its record-quantity GMLRS motor order will be built in an unopened plant

Lockheed Martin's $250 million follow-on will be filled in Camden, Ark., at a plant L3Harris is building as part of a Pentagon cooperative agreement.

Lockheed Martin has awarded L3Harris a follow-on contract valued at $250 million to manufacture standard-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) propulsion units, L3Harris announced Oct. 12. Scott Alexander, L3Harris' president of propulsion systems in Missile Solutions, said the award came "at the highest quantity in program history." L3Harris did not give the number of motors, the contract type, the period of performance or a delivery schedule.1

The contract will be fulfilled in a new 60,000-square-foot facility in Camden, Arkansas, scheduled to open later this year

On Oct. 12, 2026, L3Harris announced it was awarded a follow-on contract from Lockheed Martin

standard-range GMLRS propulsion units$250 millionactual

has been awarded a follow-on contract from Lockheed Martin

Arsenal of Freedom facility in Camden, Arkansas60,000-square-footplanned

scheduled to open later this year

funded through the Defense Production Act Title III cooperative agreement

Source: L3Harris releases, Oct. 12, 2026 and Dec. 10, 2025. As of Oct. 12, 2026.

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

The motors will come out of a building that has yet to open. L3Harris says the contract will be fulfilled in its new 60,000-square-foot Arsenal of Freedom facility in Camden, Ark., scheduled to open later this year.1 In December 2025, the company called its new Camden GMLRS facility "newly constructed." It said then that a GMLRS insensitive-munition motor order valued up to $200 million would be the first processed there.2

Aerojet Rocketdyne, before L3Harris acquired it, signed a $215.6 million cooperative agreement with the Defense Department to increase rocket propulsion manufacturing capacity, primarily for Javelin, Stinger and GMLRS.3 L3Harris says it is building the Camden facility as part of that agreement.4 In December 2025, it said the plant was funded through a Defense Production Act Title III cooperative agreement.2

L3Harris has delivered more than 35,000 GMLRS motors.4 It says it has doubled GMLRS motor output in recent years through advanced manufacturing techniques.1

The plant's opening is the next marker for this order.1 L3Harris has said the facility enables annual production capacity to increase by more than 30%.2

Sources (4)
  1. L3Harris: L3Harris Awarded Solid Rocket Motor Contract with Record Production (Oct. 12, 2026) www.l3harris.com
  2. L3Harris: L3Harris to Produce Additional Solid Rocket Motors for Precision-Guided Artillery System (Dec. 10, 2025) www.l3harris.com
  3. Aerojet Rocketdyne: Aerojet Rocketdyne Awarded $215.6M to Supplement Ongoing Modernization Efforts and Increase Solid Rocket Motor Manufacturing Capacity www.l3harris.com
  4. L3Harris: Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) www.l3harris.com