Orbital will soon be a part of Northrop Grumman, which bought the company late last year in a $9.2 billion deal.
The company recently invested heavily in its Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West Virginia, where it
builds rocket motors, warheads and fuses
because it’s anticipating a “significant increase” stemming specifically from Army programs that are ramping up in the next few years, according to Kahn.
In Mesa, Arizona, Orbital ATK broke ground on a new facility to allow it to double the capacity of its industry-standard Bushmaster cannon line.
And
the company is increasing the capacity to handle building two times as many of its Precision Guided Kits that are used to transform 155mm Howitzer rounds. Orbital ATK just celebrated the manufacturing of its 25,000th PGK.
In its Lake City, Missouri, ammunition plant, Orbital has been investing, for a number of years, both in capacity growth and process controls, as well as safety upgrades, Kahn said.
Orbital also opened a new facility a year ago in California to build the extended range version of its Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM).
The military requested in its fiscal year 2019 budget $20.7 billion in missiles and munitions.
The Army, specifically plans to buy more critical missiles and rockets and 148,287 155mm artillery projectiles for which Orbital supplies PGKs.