Northrop Grumman has opened a new tactical motor plant at the U.S. Navy-owned Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia as part of efforts to streamline manufacturing processes and cut travel costs.
The more than 50K-square foot facility will house the production of rocket motors and insensitive munitions to support a variety of military programs, Northrop said Tuesday.
The multi-building complex, constructed within ABL’s 1.6K-acre campus, is intended to reduce travel time during manufacturing by 80 percent.
Pat Nolan, vice president of missile products at Northrop, said the company plans to continue its rocket motor investments and improve the safety and efficiency of its production facilities.
Northrop currently has 1.3K employees operating in ABL, which has a manufacturing space spanning more than 1.25M square feet.