Lockheed Plans 6,000 American Jobs to Build Missiles Faster. That Is What Rebuilding the Arsenal Looks Like
A $300 million expansion in Grand Prairie, Texas, feeds the PAC-3, THAAD and PrSM surge under the administration's long-term munitions deals. In our view, Congress now has to keep the money steady so plans become paychecks.
By Clara Hughes
ALTAS WORLD NEWS OPINION | By Clara Hughes, Chief Opinion Editor | October 17, 2026 | 6-min read For years, Americans heard that the arsenal of democracy had gone soft: too few factories, too few machinists and missile lines that could not surge when allies and our own forces needed them. This week, one of the country's biggest defense manufacturers answered with a ribbon cutting in Grand Prairie, Texas. Lockheed Martin said on Oct. 14 that it plans to create 6,000 jobs across the United States, including 2,000 in Texas, as it expands capacity to build critical munitions [1]. In our view, this is exactly what the country needs, and Congress now has to keep the funding steady so the promise becomes paychecks. Key Takeaways Lockheed is investing $300 million to expand its Grand Prairie plant to more than 735,000 square feet [1]. The plant supports the PAC-3 MSE and THAAD interceptors, the Precision Strike Missile and the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile [1][2]. The company says the expansion is part of $8 billion to $9 billion it plans to invest through 2030 across more than 20 U.S. facilities [1].