How the war in Ukraine is driving growth in Arkansas

CAMDEN, Ark. — In downtown Camden, in south-central Arkansas, a large number of storefronts sit dark and empty, offering little insight into what once thrived there. On one block, only a florist and an artisanal soap shop were open on a recent Monday.

“This building is not empty, it’s full of opportunity,” a sign on another block’s storefront read.

But 10 minutes away, the Highland Industrial Park was bustling and its parking lot full as some of the nation’s largest defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne and General Dynamics — manufactured solid-rocket motors, missiles, launchers and other weapons systems that proved critical to the U.S. military and are now front and center in Ukraine.

Camden has long depended on the defense industry. For example, since 1980 Lockheed Martin has locally built its M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System — a tracked rocket launcher that can carry a dozen rockets or missiles. A mural featuring the system covers the entire back of a building in downtown.

Now the Lockheed facility is manufacturing the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System as quickly as it can.

The HIMARS — which carriers fewer rockets and missiles than its predecessor, the M270, but is more nimble — is attracting worldwide attention for helping Ukraine fend off Russian invaders . And it has put Camden’s bustling defense industry in the spotlight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the launcher made a “huge difference” in liberating critical areas of the country under Russian occupation. Late last year he presented a medal from a HIMARS officer to U.S. President Joe Biden.

The Arkansas Chamber of Commerce has named HIMARS “the coolest thing made in Arkansas,” beating out more widely known products like Cheetos.

And Lockheed in recent months won nearly half a billion dollars in new contracts to build HIMARS and guided rockets for Ukraine. That’s a sizable number, considering Arkansas exported $1 billion of defense and aerospace goods in 2020.

Local officials are hopeful expansion at Lockheed and dozens of other defense contractors in Camden’s Highland Industrial Park, driven by the demand for weapons for Ukraine, will lead to growth in their region.

The state’s Chamber of Commerce anticipates Ouachita County, home to Camden, will see an influx of new employees — up to 1,000 total — at defense firms. In the meantime, state, local and industry officials are weighing how to best recruit and retain these employees.

An empty storefront in downtown Camden, Ark. (Jen Judson/Staff)

Hot, cold, and hot again

The M270 has a long legacy in Camden. Building off that, Lockheed in the 1990s developed HIMARS as a lighter, more mobile rocket launcher. The U.S. military first fielded the new system in 2010, but didn’t stay in production long. The Army and Marine Corps wrapped up their orders in 2013, and the production line in Camden went cold in 2014.

But it wasn’t long before Lockheed needed it again. In 2015, the U.S. State Department approved the United Arab Emirates to buy 12 systems along with accompanying missiles in a $900 million deal. By 2017, HIMARS production was underway again.

Still, it was more complicated than simply restarting the production line, according to Becky Withrow, director of business development for the company’s tactical missiles portfolio, based in Grand Prairie, Texas. The previous HIMARS launchers were built using a U.S. government-provided chassis; this time, Lockheed had to build the system from the ground up.

Lockheed expected to manufacture the launchers for the UAE and then stop the line, she said. But in 2018, the U.S. Army named long-range precision fires one of its six modernization priorities, and the service chose the HIMARS launcher to support a new long-range missile in development, the Precision Strike Missile, with a range beyond 310 miles. The Army in 2019 awarded Lockheed a contract, valued at roughly half a billion dollars, to build more launchers.

To accommodate the UAE and the new orders for the U.S. Army, which now plans to buy 545 total launchers for about $3 billion, Lockheed took over a former diaper factory close to other buildings it owns within the Highland Industrial Park.

The contractor originally planned to build four launchers a month, but is now able to produce six in that time.

HIMARS first arrived in Ukraine in summer 2022. The U.S. has committed 38 HIMARS to the country as part of more than $30 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to the Pentagon, and 20 have already arrived.

Lockheed anticipates it will begin delivering the remaining 18 launchers in two-and-a-half years, according to Jay Price, vice president of precision fires for Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business.

In Ukraine, “we see HIMARS as a game changer,” U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said in January. “If you look at our portfolio ... and we take a look at the [Precision Strike] Missile, which is going to ride on HIMARS, I would argue those are going to be very effective in future conflict.”

In August 2022, Ivan Fedorov, mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, reported Ukrainian forces had used HIMARS weapons to kill more than 100 Russian soldiers in an August attack. He said Russian air defense units were not able to counter those rocket attacks. However, Defense News was unable to independently verify this.

By November, Ukraine had used HIMARS to weaken Russian-controlled terrain and capabilities. Zelenskyy said HIMARS was critical in liberating Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine as well as Kherson, a port city in the south that Russia occupied for eight months.

The foreign operators of the system now include Romania , Jordan and Singapore. Poland , Estonia , Lithuania , Latvia and the Netherlands are signed up to become owners in the coming years.

In Ukraine, the HIMARS weapon has become a symbol of strength; Zelenskyy, while visiting Biden in December, gave him a cross for military merit awarded to and offered by a captain of a HIMARS rocket unit.

In February, when Biden visited Kyiv, Zelenskyy asked for longer-range munitions like the Army Tactical Missile System, which HIMARS can launch. Lockheed Martin’s ATACMS assembly line is open, but the U.S. has not publicly announced any intention to send the weapon to Ukraine.

Lockheed Martin is now preparing to produce eight HIMARS a month in Camden by the third quarter of 2025, Price said.

A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is fired during the African Lion military exercise in in Morocco on June 9, 2021. (Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP)

The contractor won a $431 million U.S. Army contract in December to produce HIMARS launchers with the aim of rapidly replenishing the stocks of the U.S. and its allies and partners who sent arms to Ukraine. That came after a November deal from the Army worth $14.4 million to increase production capacity for the HIMARS line.

And the company received a $521 million deal in November 2022 to replenish Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System stocks, also supplied to Ukraine. GMLRS weapons are produced in one of the original World War II-era ammunition depot buildings on the Highland property.

Lockheed, which has about 1,000 employees in Camden, plans to hire about 200 new workers over the next several years to increase HIMARS production and that of other weapons sent to Ukraine like the GMLRS, according to Aaron Huckaby, the director of Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control business operations in Camden.

Despite plans to bolster its workforce, Lockheed won’t need to add space to its 2.2 million-square-foot facility. The plant operates with one HIMARS shift from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, Huckaby told Defense News, and will add a split shift, meaning another 10-hour shift with some overlap.

Lockheed will hire technicians, assemblers and inspectors, as well as manufacturing, chemical and mechanical engineers, Huckaby said.

The contractor has a partnership with Southern Arkansas University and recruits students from the tech school, located across the street from Lockheed’s facility, for an apprenticeship program. Lockheed is also eyeing graduates of Louisiana Tech University and forging a new relationship with the University of Arkansas.

The manufacturing supervisor of Lockheed Martin's HIMARS work, Nick Spurlin, came to work three years ago as an assembler at the facility. A graduate of Southern Arkansas University, he followed in the footsteps of his father, who had spent 30 years at the company, partly working on the system. Spurlin said the production line now has roughly 50 workers building the weapon from the ground up. (Jen Judson/Staff)

Expansion in Arkansas

While Lockheed plans to grow by several hundred employees, defense contractors statewide are expected to add about 1,000 workers over the next several years. “The challenge right now is workforce issues,” Randy Zook, the president of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, told Defense News. “We’re trying to help with that.”

Camden is in a remote area “purposefully because of the nature of what goes on there,” Zook said, so the surrounding region must prepare for the new employees of local defense companies.

Aerojet Rocketdyne , which has been in Camden since 1979 and builds more than 75,000 solid-rocket motors a year for weapons like the Javelin, Stinger and Patriot missile, will grow its energetics capabilities in the town. The contractor recently announced the planned construction of a 51,000-square-foot facility in the industrial park. Its Camden workforce now totals more than 1,000 employees, according to Aerojet.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems ’ Camden operations include an explosive load, assemble and pack facility working on Defense Department programs like the Hydra 70 2.75-inch rocket, Hellfire and Javelin warheads, and the modular artillery system supporting 155mm artillery.

The company has 320 employees at the location, but is expanding to accommodate a new product line for explosive load, assemble and pack for M795 projectiles. GD plans to repurpose existing facilities and build an additional 15,000 square feet of space as well as hire 60-90 more workers.

A resident in downtown Camden, Ark., commissioned artist Kiptoe to paint this mural on the side of his apartment building to promote the growing vibrancy of the small city. Prominently featured in the work are M270 launchers, which Lockheed Martin has made at its Camden facility since 1980. (Jen Judson/Staff)

The flow of new defense workers isn’t entirely unprecedented. James Lee Silliman, Ouachita Partnership for Economic Development’s executive director, told Defense News that when the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot opened up in 1944, it brought 25,000 workers to Camden. Workers were sleeping on the streets and renting out beds in local homes for eight hours at a time.

And the defense industry has helped stabilize the local economy after a paper mill — International Paper Co. — closed down two decades ago and most of its 600 employees left the area, according to Silliman.

Over the last five years, many of the area defense contractors have grown; Lockheed, for instance, doubled its size over this period. The influx has brought new housing as well as a handful of new businesses catering to a younger crowd, including a microbrewery, Silliman said.

To handle the anticipated boom of new workers and their families, the city is in discussions with several housing developers about building more single-family and multifamily homes, he said.

Silliman added that he’s hopeful Camden will reap the benefits.

“Retail jobs follow manufacturing jobs, so the more manufacturing jobs that you have in a community, retail will soon follow.”

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

阿肯色州卡姆登——在阿肯色州中南部的卡姆登市中心，许多店面门窗漆黑空置，让人难以窥见这里曾经的繁荣景象。就在不久前的一个星期一，在一个街区里，只有一家花店和一家手工皂店还在营业。

“这栋楼不是空的，而是充满了机遇，”另一条街上的一家店面门面上挂着一块牌子。

但 10 分钟路程之外，高地工业园一片繁忙景象，停车场也停满了车。美国一些最大的国防承包商——洛克希德·马丁公司、航空喷气火箭公司和通用动力公司——正在生产固体火箭发动机、导弹、发射器和其他武器系统，这些武器系统对美国军方至关重要，现在在乌克兰也发挥着核心作用。

卡姆登长期以来都依赖国防工业。例如，自1980年以来，洛克希德·马丁公司一直在当地生产其M270多管火箭炮系统——一种履带式火箭发射器，可携带十几枚火箭弹或导弹。市中心一栋建筑的整个背面都绘有该系统的壁画。

现在，洛克希德公司的工厂正在以最快的速度生产高机动性火箭炮系统。

HIMARS系统虽然比其前身M270携带的火箭弹和导弹数量少，但机动性更强，因帮助乌克兰抵御俄罗斯入侵而备受全球关注。这也让卡姆登蓬勃发展的国防工业成为焦点。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，该导弹发射器在解放被俄罗斯占领的乌克兰关键地区方面发挥了“巨大作用”。去年年底，他向美国总统拜登赠送了一枚由HIMARS军官颁发的勋章。

阿肯色州商会称 HIMARS 为“阿肯色州最酷的产品”，击败了 Cheetos 等更广为人知的产品。

近几个月来，洛克希德公司赢得了近5亿美元的新合同，为乌克兰建造HIMARS导弹防御系统和制导火箭。考虑到阿肯色州2020年国防和航空航天产品的出口额为10亿美元，这笔金额相当可观。

当地官员希望，受乌克兰武器需求的推动，洛克希德公司和卡姆登高地工业园的其他数十家国防承包商的扩张将带动该地区的经济增长。

州商会预计，卡姆登所在的沃希托县将迎来大量国防企业新员工，总数可能高达1000人。与此同时，州政府、地方政府和行业官员正在商讨如何更好地招聘和留住这些员工。

阿肯色州卡姆登市中心一家空置的店面。（Jen Judson/工作人员摄）

忽冷忽热

M270火箭炮在卡姆登有着悠久的历史。在此基础上，洛克希德·马丁公司在20世纪90年代开发了HIMARS火箭炮系统，该系统更轻便、机动性更强。美军于2010年首次列装该系统，但生产周期并不长。陆军和海军陆战队于2013年完成了订单，卡姆登的生产线于2014年停产。

但不久之后，洛克希德公司再次需要这套系统。2015年，美国国务院批准阿联酋购买12套HIMARS系统及配套导弹，交易金额达9亿美元。到2017年，HIMARS的生产再次启动。

然而，据位于德克萨斯州大草原城的洛克希德公司战术导弹业务发展总监贝基·威斯罗 (Becky Withrow) 称，这远比重启生产线复杂得多。之前的HIMARS发射装置是使用美国政府提供的底盘建造的；而这一次，洛克希德公司必须从零开始建造整个系统。

她说，洛克希德公司原本计划为阿联酋生产这些发射器后就停止生产。但2018年，美国陆军将远程精确火力列为六大现代化优先事项之一，并选择HIMARS发射器来支持正在研发中的新型远程导弹——精确打击导弹，该导弹射程超过310英里。2019年，陆军授予洛克希德公司一份价值约5亿美元的合同，用于生产更多发射器。

为了满足阿联酋和美国陆军的新订单（美国陆军现在计划购买总共 545 套发射器，价值约 30 亿美元），洛克希德公司接管了位于高地工业园区内、靠近其拥有的其他建筑物的一家前尿布厂。

承包商最初计划每月建造四枚发射器，但现在每月能够生产六枚。

HIMARS导弹防御系统于2022年夏季首次抵达乌克兰。据五角大楼称，美国已承诺向乌克兰提供38套HIMARS导弹防御系统，作为对乌克兰超过300亿美元安全援助的一部分，其中20套已经抵达。

据洛克希德·马丁公司导弹与火控业务部精确火力副总裁杰伊·普莱斯称，洛克希德预计将在两年半内开始交付剩余的 18 个发射器。

美国陆军参谋长詹姆斯·麦康维尔将军1月份表示，在乌克兰，“我们认为HIMARS系统将改变战局”。“如果你看看我们的武器装备……再看看将搭载在HIMARS系统上的精确打击导弹，我认为它们在未来的冲突中将非常有效。”

2022年8月，乌克兰南部城市梅利托波尔市长伊万·费多罗夫报告称，乌克兰军队在8月的一次袭击中使用HIMARS火箭炮系统炸死了100多名俄罗斯士兵。他表示，俄罗斯防空部队未能拦截这些火箭弹袭击。然而，《防务新闻》无法独立核实这一说法。

到11月，乌克兰已利用HIMARS系统削弱了俄罗斯控制的地区和能力。泽连斯基表示，HIMARS系统在解放乌克兰东部的哈尔科夫以及南部港口城市赫尔松（俄罗斯占领了该市长达八个月）的过程中发挥了关键作用。

目前该系统的外国运营商包括罗马尼亚、约旦和新加坡。波兰、爱沙尼亚、立陶宛、拉脱维亚和荷兰已签约，将在未来几年内成为该系统的所有者。

在乌克兰，HIMARS 武器已成为力量的象征；泽连斯基在 12 月访问拜登时，向他赠送了一枚由 HIMARS 火箭部队一名上尉授予并赠送的军事功勋十字勋章。

今年2月，拜登访问基辅时，泽连斯基要求美国提供远程导弹，例如陆军战术导弹系统（ATACMS），而HIMARS导弹系统可以发射这种导弹。洛克希德·马丁公司的ATACMS装配线已经开工，但美国尚未公开宣布任何向乌克兰提供该武器的计划。

普莱斯表示，洛克希德·马丁公司目前正准备在卡姆登工厂每月生产八架HIMARS火箭炮。

2021年6月9日，在摩洛哥举行的“非洲雄狮”军事演习中，一门高机动性火箭炮系统进行了发射。（Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP）

这家承包商去年12月赢得了一份价值4.31亿美元的美国陆军合同，负责生产HIMARS导弹发射系统，旨在迅速补充美国及其盟友和伙伴国向乌克兰输送武器的库存。此前，陆军在11月签署了一份价值1440万美元的合同，用于提高HIMARS导弹的产能。

该公司于2022年11月获得一份价值5.21亿美元的合同，用于补充制导多管火箭炮系统（GMLRS）的库存，该系统也供应给乌克兰。GMLRS武器是在位于高地工业区内一座二战时期遗留下来的弹药库建筑中生产的。

据洛克希德导弹与火控业务运营部卡姆登分部主管亚伦·哈克比称，洛克希德公司在卡姆登拥有约 1000 名员工，计划在未来几年内招聘约 200 名新员工，以增加 HIMARS 导弹系统以及其他出口到乌克兰的武器（如 GMLRS 导弹系统）的产量。

尽管洛克希德·马丁公司计划扩充员工队伍，但其占地220万平方英尺的工厂无需扩建。哈克比告诉《防务新闻》，该工厂目前实行HIMARS单班制，周一至周四上午6点至下午4点30分，并将增加一个分段班次，即增加一个10小时班次，班次之间会有部分重叠。

哈克比表示，洛克希德公司将招聘技术人员、装配工和检验员，以及制造工程师、化学工程师和机械工程师。

这家承包商与南阿肯色大学建立了合作关系，并从这所位于洛克希德公司工厂对面的技校招募学生参加学徒计划。洛克希德公司也在关注路易斯安那理工大学的毕业生，并与阿肯色大学建立新的合作关系。

洛克希德·马丁公司HIMARS项目制造主管尼克·斯普林三年前来到这家工厂，担任装配工。他毕业于南阿肯色大学，子承父业，他的父亲曾在该公司工作30年，其中一部分工作就是参与HIMARS系统的研发。斯普林表示，目前生产线上大约有50名工人，负责从零开始组装这套武器系统。（珍·贾德森/工作人员）

在阿肯色州的扩张

洛克希德公司计划增加数百名员工，而全州范围内的国防承包商预计在未来几年内将新增约1000名员工。“目前的挑战是劳动力短缺问题，”阿肯色州商会主席兰迪·祖克告诉《防务新闻》，“我们正在努力解决这个问题。”

Zook表示，卡姆登地处偏远地区，“这是有意为之，因为那里发生的事情性质特殊”，因此周边地区必须为当地国防公司的新员工做好准备。

自1979年以来一直扎根于卡姆登的Aerojet Rocketdyne公司，每年为“标枪”、“毒刺”和“爱国者”导弹等武器生产超过75,000台固体火箭发动机，将进一步扩大其在该镇的能源生产能力。这家承包商近日宣布计划在工业园区内建造一座占地51,000平方英尺的工厂。据Aerojet公司称，其在卡姆登的员工总数目前已超过1,000人。

通用动力军械和战术系统公司在卡姆登的业务包括一个爆炸物装载、组装和包装设施，该设施参与国防部的项目，例如 Hydra 70 2.75 英寸火箭、地狱火和标枪弹头，以及支持 155 毫米火炮的模块化火炮系统。

该公司在该地点拥有320名员工，但为了适应M795炮弹爆炸装药、组装和包装的新产品线，正在扩建。通用动力公司计划改造现有设施，并新建15,000平方英尺的空间，同时再招聘60至90名员工。

阿肯色州卡姆登市中心的一位居民委托艺术家基普托在其公寓楼外墙上绘制了这幅壁画，旨在展现这座小城日益增长的活力。作品中醒目地描绘了M270火箭发射器，洛克希德·马丁公司自1980年以来一直在其卡姆登工厂生产这种火箭发射器。（珍·贾德森/工作人员）

国防工人涌入并非完全史无前例。沃希托经济发展合作组织执行主任詹姆斯·李·西利曼告诉《防务新闻》，1944年舒梅克海军弹药库启用时，曾为卡姆登带来了25000名工人。当时，工人们只能露宿街头，或者租用当地居民家中的床位，每次睡八小时。

据西利曼称，二十年前，一家造纸厂——国际纸业公司——倒闭，其 600 名员工中的大多数离开了该地区，国防工业帮助稳定了当地经济。

过去五年，该地区许多国防承包商都取得了发展壮大；例如，洛克希德公司在此期间规模翻了一番。西利曼表示，这股热潮不仅带来了新的住房，还催生了一些迎合年轻人群的新企业，其中包括一家精酿啤酒厂。

他说，为了应对预计涌入的新工人和他们的家庭，市政府正在与几家住房开发商商讨建造更多独栋和多户住宅。

西利曼补充说，他希望卡姆登能够从中受益。

“零售业的就业机会往往跟随制造业的就业机会而来，所以一个社区的制造业就业机会越多，零售业也会很快随之发展起来。”

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。