Saab to build $75M munitions production facility in Grayling
Posted By: The Detroit News on September 24, 2024. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Swedish aerospace and defense contractor Saab Inc. is planning a $75 million munitions production facility in Grayling Township, an investment that is expected to create up to 69 jobs and make use of testing facilities at nearby Camp Grayling.
The facility, expected to open in early 2026, will be used for assembly of shoulder-fired munitions and precision fire systems, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Saab officials hopes to break ground later this year.
The Michigan Strategic Fund on Tuesday voted to approve a $3.5 million Michigan Development Program Grant as well as a 15-year personal property tax exemption that is worth about $664,500. The company also will receive a state education tax abatement.
The Department of Natural Resources is expected to sell the company land for the project.
“Given current global security challenges, it is critical the United States strengthens its national defense capacity,” Saab president and CEO Erik Smith said in a statement. “Saab is proud to partner with the state of Michigan and the local community to establish a world-class facility that, with our range of products, will increase and modernize the domestic production of munition systems.”
While the near term plan for the facility is to produce shoulder-fired munitions and precision fire weapon systems, the site would be used in the long term to “engineer and produce missile weapons systems,” said Petter Larsson, a spokesman for Saab.
“This will be a world-class, advanced manufacturing and engineering facility,” he added. Saab will locate on a 388-acre land parcel zoned for development, but the actual facility is estimated to use about 60 acres, Larsson said.
DNR spokesman Ed Golder said the company is expected to purchase a 350-plus acre parcel located between 4 Mile Road to the south, the Grayling Industrial Park to the north and Interstate 75 to the east. DNR Director Scott Bowen must sign off on the sale for it to be official.
Saab’s planned Grayling plant will mark the company’s 10th in the U.S. Others are located in Indiana, New York, Florida, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and California.
Saab initially was considering six potential states where the facility would be located, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation said in a memo on the project.
“With Saab’s decision to ‘Make It in Michigan,’ we are building on our economic momentum and strong reputation as a leader in advanced manufacturing,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement Tuesday. “We built the arsenal of democracy to win WWII and will keep rolling up our sleeves to protect our national defense. Let’s get it done.”
Saab has been in contact with Camp Grayling officials about potential partnerships to test the products as required by the Department of Defense, the MEDC wrote in a memo. The Michigan National Guard and other units from other states and countries use Camp Grayling throughout the year for training.
The 69 jobs created are expected to pay an average wage of $39.91 per hour.
The 148,000-acre Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center has recently come under some scrutiny after the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs proposed a plan that would roughly double the size of the camp by entering a 20-year lease for forested land currently owned and managed by the Department of Natural Resources.
Grayling residents and Au Sable River anglers protested the plan, arguing that the expansion would encroach on the area’s natural charm and that the property was being used increasingly for testing of unknown defense tools from independent contractors.
The DNR last year declined the request to expand the camp’s size and, instead, said it would require the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs to apply for limited-use permits to use up to 52,000 acres of DNR land. The permits would allow for “low-impact training” on land that would remain open to the public at all times.
« Back to Insights