L3Harris Technologies has expanded its Palm Bay campus with a new $100 million satellite integration-test facility that will support President Donald Trump’s future Golden Dome defense system to thwart incoming ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons.
“Space is the new high ground,” LaTasha Dandy, L3Harris space dominance general manager, said during an Aug. 22 Space Coast Symposium panel discussion.
“I came from the aeronautics industry, working on fighter jets for a very long time. And it used to be that fighter jets were your high ground. You could get up there, get stealth, try to send missiles into enemy territory from a plane. That is no longer enough. You’ve got to go higher,” Dandy told the audience.
“The sky is not the limit anymore. And we’ve got to go higher than that to protect our nation from existential threats,” she said.
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L3Harris officials conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 21 at the 94,000-square-foot high-bay structure, known as Building 31, which will support 100 new jobs with average annual salaries of $105,000 off Palm Bay Road.
In May, Trump announced a $25 billion investment in Golden Dome technology and structure, with upcoming plans to spend $175 billion during a three-year span.
During her symposium remarks at Raddison Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, Dandy likened Building 31 with “the power of 100.”
“Because this is a facility that’s almost 100,000 square feet, $100 million investment into this facility that’s going to create about 100 jobs with at least $100,000 salaries to these employees. So this is a growth and an investment for L3Harris,” Dandy said.
Development of the L3Harris satellite facility predates Trump’s second term in office and his Golden Dome executive order. In July 2023, the company sought property tax breaks from Brevard County and Palm Bay for an estimated $294 million expansion of its Palm Bay campus. That two-building campaign included Project LEO — the new satellite facility — and Project SAMT, an acronym for secure advanced manufacturing technology.
The Palm Bay City Council unanimously approved $12.1 million in city property tax breaks, but the Brevard County Commission rejected the company’s request for $7.2 million.
The second new building coming to L3Harris’ Palm Bay campus is an advanced microelectronics facility measuring about 98,000 square feet, according to the company’s media relations department. Equipped with a manufacturing cleanroom, this facility will create roughly 100 new jobs with average salaries of about $111,000.
Headquartered in Melbourne, L3Harris previously developed five missile-tracking satellites that launched into orbit in February 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Space Force’s USSF-124 national security mission.
Last year, the aerospace giant received a contract valued up to $919 million to develop 18 future satellites with infrared hypersonic missile-tracking technology for the Space Development Agency. L3Harris is also building a 16-satellite SDA constellation.
“The big event — I’ll call it our Sputnik moment — happened in 2021. And that’s when China launched what’s called the fractional orbital bombardment system,” Ed Zoiss, L3Harris president of space and airborne systems, said in a video released last month.
“Essentially, a missile took off from China, did a three-quarter loop — almost fully orbited the Earth — then dropped out of orbit and maneuvered around our land-based and sea-based radar systems. That was really the moment that we knew that we needed a new defensive system. One that was based in space, not based on the Earth,” Zoiss said.
“So we need to create a new space-sensing layer in order to counter this threat,” he said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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