Lockheed Martin Opens Missile Assembly Facility in Alabama
COURTLAND, Ala. — Lockheed Martin has opened an 88,000-square-foot missile assembly facility in Courtland to support production of the Next Generation Interceptor for the Missile Defense Agency.
The purpose-built Missile Assembly Building 5 will expand Lockheed Martin’s advanced manufacturing capacity in north Alabama. The facility is designed to use digital manufacturing tools, automation and data-driven workflows to support repeatable production of complex missile defense systems.
Lockheed Martin said the plant draws on manufacturing practices from high-reliability programs including Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and hypersonics. The facility also uses digital twin methodology intended to reduce risk from design through sustainment.
The Next Generation Interceptor is an open system interceptor designed to operate with space-based sensors, radars, command-and-control systems and other interceptors as part of a layered missile defense network. Its modular architecture is designed to allow new technologies to be incorporated while the missile remains in its silo.
“Think of this as deterrence through defense,” said Christopher Jewell, NGI vice president and program manager at Lockheed Martin. “It sends a clear signal that threats can be detected, tracked and defeated before they ever reach their intended target.”
The facility is designed to streamline workflows, reduce unnecessary handling and support tighter tolerances required for complex components. Integrated digital tools will connect design data to the factory floor to support configuration control, quality assurance and repeatability as production scales.
“These facilities were intentionally designed around the system they produce,” Jewell said. “By aligning the factory to the product at the onset of development, we can improve quality, increase efficiency, adapt and ramp up production quicker as the system evolves.”
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Gen. Mike Guetlein, director of Golden Dome for America, said the facility is part of a broader effort to develop a next-generation missile defense shield.
“You are not just building infrastructure, you are building the Arsenal of Freedom,” Guetlein said. “We are moving with purpose, with urgency, and we are moving out … we are forging the shield to secure the Homeland together.”
Guetlein said the missile defense effort is combining next-generation space-based tracking, advanced interceptors and artificial intelligence.
NGI is moving from design to production, with key system elements advancing through development testing and integration. Lockheed Martin said core technologies, including engagement capability, sensors, software and propulsion, are demonstrating system-level performance ahead of critical design review.
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