Inside a large white warehouse off Wicker Road, federal and local leaders stood side by side Tuesday afternoon as Firehawk Aerospace cut the ribbon on its new rocket integration facility, a site capable of producing 40,000 rockets annually, with plans to triple that output in the coming years.
Will Edwards, CEO of Firehawk Aerospace, said the company plans to build on its initial $16.5 million investment with a major expansion by 2028.
“Our investment in this state has only just begun,” he told attendees. “We’re excited to be here for many decades to come. (An output of) 120,000 rockets a year is going to sound very small very soon, so we’re excited that Mississippi is our new home. … Let’s get to work.”
Firehawk, a Texas-based munitions company that develops rockets and motors powered by 3D-printed propellants, acquired three buildings and 636 acres last year at the Crawford site, which was previously an assembly facility for Nammo Talley, a munitions development company under Norway-based Nammo.
Firehawk’s current footprint in Crawford includes an assembly facility, a warehouse and a bunker for storing munitions totaling nearly 20,000 square feet. Edwards said Firehawk plans to invest an additional $20 million through its expansion, adding three or four new bunkers and another assembly building. Additional programs are expected to take up the remaining acreage, though Edwards declined to provide specifics on future plans.
The Defense Contract Management Agency-certified integration site will assemble rockets for both commercial and government customers, Edwards told The Dispatch. The company already holds contracts with both the U.S. Army and Air Force.
Edwards said Firehawk secured a contract last week to assemble Hydra 70 rockets at the Crawford facility, munition used by the U.S. military for air-to-ground missions.
“This is just one of dozens of contracts we plan on winning and bringing to the state,” Edwards said. “We want to make sure that by the time we’re done here, this is one of the most important defense integration facilities in the country.”
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, joined by U.S. 1st District Rep. Trent Kelly, Lowndes County Supervisors Trip Hairston and Jeff Smith, and Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Iain Vassey, said the United States is facing its most dangerous national defense situation in decades.
“We’ve got Russia, and I think it’s been very clear … Vladimir Putin is no friend of the United States,” Wicker told attendees. “… They are tied and joined at the hip with Communist China (President) Xi JinPing. They build 200 warships for every 100 warships we currently build, and we need to change that. Just a stone’s throw away … is North Korea … and then of course I think we’re taking care of that fourth part of the axis of aggression in Iran. We need to do what we are doing here at Firehawk Aerospace, and we need to do it big time.”
Kelly echoed that urgency, saying facilities like the one in Crawford are critical as the country consumes munitions “faster than we ever have.”
Once the planned expansion is complete, the company is expected to employ more than 100 “highly-skilled” workers at salaries starting at $85,000 and reaching into six-figures, Edwards said.
By the end of this year, dozens of those job opportunities will be available. Edwards said the company plans to hire locally, noting the region is home to skilled workers who previously worked at the site when it was operated by Nammo Talley.
“This place was making tens of thousands of rockets already,” he said. “So the people who can build these systems are already here. So we don’t see ourselves importing anyone.”
Kelly said the greatest workforce in the world exists “right here in Mississippi,” and has for decades.
“We won World War II, not because of the Detroits and the Chicagos and the New Yorks,” Kelly said. “We won the industrial revolution of World War II because of the rural people around America who started building things better than they could be built in big cities. It’s the workforce, it’s the work ethic, it’s the moral fiber of those neighborhoods.”
Wicker said the state’s workforce continues to demonstrate its value.
“If you give Mississippians a job, they’ll get up early in the morning, they’ll punch in on time, and they’ll give you a great day’s work,” Wicker said. “… And they’ll be good members of the community. You couldn’t have a better workforce than you have (here).”
Vassey, who was named LINK’s CEO in February, said the project reflects decades of economic development planning in the Golden Triangle.
“… A lot of things came together … and people realized the vision to make this the manufacturing powerhouse of the south,” he said. “You made a vision into a real reality .. and my job, and the job of our team at the LINK, is to continue this legacy and to continue to build the future and success of this area and this region.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
