L3Harris announces $41.2M Orange County expansion

Florida-based aerospace and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies announced on Thursday a $41.2 million expansion and modernization of its Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in Orange County, with plans to add 80 employees. 

Over the next three years, L3Harris also plans to construct new facilities and buy new equipment for the facility, according to a statement from the company and another by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “Our country’s security depends on defense manufacturers like L3Harris, and we are proud that this long-term corporate partner continues to reinvest in Virginia,” Youngkin said in a release. 

California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne, which makes propulsion and power systems for everything from rockets to space vehicles to strategic missiles, was acquired by L3Harris in 2023 in a $4.7 billion deal. Aerojet last invested $11 million in expanding the Orange facility in 2015, adding 100 jobs.

Aerojet’s Orange County facility, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, focuses on the manufacture, testing and development of complex rocket propulsion systems. According to the Department of Defense, the rocket motor systems “propel DOD missiles and missile defense interceptors, along with space launch vehicles and national security satellites used in civil and commercial applications.”

The majority of the Orange County expansion’s funding comes from $215.6 million in federal funding from the 2023 Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, which is helping supply weapons and other aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. 

According to an April 14 DoD release, the funding, which was provided through DOD’s Office of Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization, is aimed at strengthening the supply chain for solid rocket motors. It will be used “to modernize manufacturing processes at the company’s facilities [in Orange County as well as Arkansas and Alabama], consolidate production lines, purchase equipment, build systems to process data, and increase production and delivery speed for Javelins, Stingers, and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System.” 

“We have been a part of the Virginia community for decades and look forward to growing our talented workforce here as we produce the vital propulsion that helps protect our nation and its allies,” Aerojet Rocketdyne President Ross Niebergall said in a statement. 

Virginia’s state government and Orange County are contributing a combined total of about $2.18 million in incentives for site improvement and construction, according to L3Harris. 

A statement from a spokesperson for L3Harris was quoted in several Florida news outlets last week, explaining that the company had made the “difficult decision to ‘rightsize’” its workforce, cutting as part of the company’s announced initiative to save more than $1 billion over the next three years. A request for comment on how the Orange County expansion fits into that decision was not immediately returned by L3Harris or the governor’s office. 

L3Harris Technologies formed in 2019 through a merger between L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. Today, L3Harris has 50,000 employees and is one of the top 10 defense contractors in the United States. L3Harris reported $19.4 billion in revenue in 2023, up 14% over 2022. 

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Orange County and the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development to secure the project for Virginia.