Gov. Asa Hutchinson stands next to Frank St. John, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, at the Paris Air Show. Lockheed Martin plans to spend $142 million to expand its plant in East Camden.
Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Maryland, said Tuesday that it received a $561.8 million production contract for Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles for the U.S. Army and Foreign Military Sales customers.
The military contractor said the two-year deal calls for new ATACMS rounds, as well as upgrading several previous-variant ATACMS as part of the Service Life Extension Program. Both will be produced at Lockheed Martin’s Precision Fires Production Center of Excellence in Camden.
“The new-build ATACMS rounds under this contract will include sensor technology that provides the recently qualified Height-of-Burst capability,” Gaylia Campbell, vice president of Precision Fires & Combat Maneuver Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a news release. “This new feature will allow soldiers to address area targets at depth on the battlefield.”
Lockheed Martin and Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced last week that the company would expand its plant, in the Highland Industrial Park in East Camden, to accommodate increased demand for the company’s ATACMS missiles and other products.
The company is planning a $142 million investment that will add more than 300 jobs over the next five years. Executives said the workforce will grow from about 650 as of January 2019 to around 976 by 2024.
The facility expansion is expected to take two and a half years, with construction likely to begin in the third quarter. Lockheed Martin plans to hire across the board, seeking engineers, production workers and workers in finance, logistics, health and safety, facilities and more. State and local governments are helping the expansion with an array of incentives.
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