The Location Decision Tracker has logged 57 aerospace and defense location decisions so far in 2026, more than four times the 13 we counted in 2023 and well past last year's 33. No other sector has added as many projects since 2023.
Part of the jump is us. We built the 2026 data set later and with a wider sweep, so we're finding more projects than we did in earlier years. Even so, the direction lines up with what we hear from economic developers and site selectors: defense work is drawing the map this year.
The dollars are lopsided. SpaceX's $100 billion Starbase Louisiana plan accounts for most of the sector's $120 billion in announced 2026 capital. Set it aside and aerospace and defense still carries about $20 billion this year, already more than the $16.3 billion we logged in all of 2025.
The big bets of 2026
Defense technology companies are behind most of the year's largest projects, led by Anduril and Saronic.
Anduril Industries · $3.7 billion, 3,100 jobs, Baltimore County, Md.
Saronic Technologies · $3.2 billion, Texas
Hanwha Defense USA · $2.2 billion, 400 jobs, Pine Bluff, Ark.
Hadrian · $1.5 billion, 1,000 jobs, Cherokee, Ala.
Electra · $850 million, 1,975 jobs, Springfield, Ohio
The new entries cluster around bases
Our two most recent rounds of additions brought in 18 aerospace and defense projects. Most are small, often under $25 million and a couple hundred jobs, and most sit within reach of a military installation or a defense research hub.
Huntsville, Ala., home to Redstone Arsenal: Blue Origin ($71.4 million, 105 jobs), PPG ($70 million) and Redwire (150 jobs)
The Dayton area, next to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base: AeroVironment in Beavercreek and Xenia (200 jobs) and Resonant Sciences in Beavercreek (101 jobs)
Macomb County, Mich., the Army's ground-vehicle hub: CQT Weapon Systems ($23.7 million, 136 jobs) and Capture Systems (125 jobs)
Northern Virginia, close to the Pentagon: Innovative Defense Technologies (210 jobs), GRVTY (200 jobs), Blue Sky Innovators (175 jobs) and Umbra (100 jobs)
For a site selector, the lesson in those small deals is proximity. A drone or sensor company wants to be a short drive from the program office, the test range and the cleared workforce that comes with them.
North Carolina's runway
Since the start of 2025, North Carolina has five aerospace and defense projects in the Tracker, carrying 15,584 announced jobs. That's more than any other state in that stretch, and it spans the whole range of the industry, from a new commercial jet to drones.
JetZero · $4.7 billion, 14,564 jobs, Greensboro
PPG · $380 million aerospace coatings plant, 110 jobs, Shelby
Pratt & Whitney · $285 million, 325 jobs, Asheville
Corvid Technologies · $95 million, 423 jobs, Mooresville
Skyeton · $3.1 million, 162 jobs, Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg
JetZero's factory accounts for most of those jobs, and it sits on land at Piedmont Triad International Airport that was prepared years before anyone knew who would build there. That's where our North Carolina series starts. We spent last week across the state with economic developers, manufacturers and colleges, and the stories from Greensboro and Asheville are coming over the next few weeks.
How we counted
Figures come from the Location Decision Tracker as of Nov. 2, 2026. A project counts in the year it was announced. Investment and jobs are as announced by the company or its public partners, and some 2026 records are still marked provisional. Explore every project on the Tracker, and if we've missed one, tell us at [email protected].