Daviess County's defense corridor just got a little bigger, and a lot of contractors in southern Indiana should be paying attention. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has broken ground on two new facilities at WestGate@Crane in Odon: a Navy radar repair and testing complex and a hypersonic materials test site.
The ceremonial groundbreaking was held Monday, Sept. 21, and construction was already underway by then, the Southern Indiana Business Report reported. Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Sen. Todd Young and Rep. Mark Messmer were among the speakers. Kratos put out its own announcement on Oct. 14, saying the ceremony was held at the Westgate Academy in Odon.
Two complexes, one campus
The bigger of the two is the Indiana Radar Integration Complex, or IRIC. According to Kratos, it's an approximately 183,000-square-foot facility designed to give the Navy a long-term capability for the repair, testing, integration and sustainment of its AN/SPY-1 radar system. Kratos says IRIC will provide infrastructure and workforce to support legacy and next-generation radar systems, improve fleet readiness and reduce sustainment bottlenecks.
The second is the Helios Arc Jet & Laser Facility. It will provide testing for thermal protection systems used on hypersonic vehicles, combining a 20- to 25-megawatt arc jet with a 200-kilowatt fiber laser system. Kratos says Helios is meant to bridge the gap between low-fidelity screening tools and the large arc jet facilities at government test sites.
That gap is real, according to Angie Lewis, technical director at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane. "Kratos is bringing an extraordinary commercial testing capability right to our doorstep," she said. "It means that our researchers and industry teams can evaluate thermal protection materials under extreme flight conditions without waiting months to years in a national testing queue."
Kratos says the facilities are the product of $35 million in funding through the Department of War's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program and cost-sharing from Kratos. The company's announcement does not break out how much of that comes from each side.
"Kratos is making deliberate internal investments to rapidly develop and field advanced capabilities our warfighters require against peer adversaries," said Eric DeMarco, Kratos' president and CEO.
At the ceremony, DeMarco kept it shorter. "We make products," he said, "not PowerPoints."
This isn't Kratos' first project in Odon. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation says the new work follows Kratos' $50 million hypersonic systems payload integration facility, which was completed in July and is expected to create more than 100 high-tech jobs.
"Kratos first broke ground in Indiana less than two years ago, and the company's decision to expand yet again is a testament to our robust defense industry and the strength and skill of our workforce," Braun said in the IEDC's release.
DeMarco said the two new facilities are expected to add "hundreds" of new roles over the next few years.
They're part of a bigger wave. The IEDC says defense companies have committed $2.5 billion in capital investment in Indiana since 2020, and the state was recently selected by the Department of War for an advanced nuclear micro modular reactor at Naval Weapons Station Crane.
"Indiana has the mission, talent, partnerships, and industrial commitment to become an even more significant contributor to the nation's defense—and today is evidence of that momentum," said Dave Carter, president of Kratos Defense and Rocket Support Services.
None of the announcements named a general contractor for IRIC or Helios.
Why it matters for Contractors
A 183,000-square-foot industrial building and a specialized high-power test facility mean big work for site, concrete, steel and building envelope contractors, and especially for electrical and mechanical trades. A 20- to 25-megawatt arc jet and a 200-kilowatt laser need serious power distribution, cooling and controls. Defense-related projects can come with site security and documentation requirements, so firms comfortable with that kind of paperwork may have an edge. No general contractor has been named, so subs should reach out to Kratos and watch for bid opportunities. With Kratos expanding again less than two years after it first broke ground in Indiana, and $2.5 billion in defense investment statewide since 2020, the Odon area is worth a contractor's attention. If the "hundreds" of new jobs DeMarco described materialize, the workers filling them will need places to live nearby, too.