Gov. Spencer Cox listens as Ben Davies, corporate vice president and vice president of Northrop Grumman Defense Systems, briefs news media at a groundbreaking event for the sixth building at the company's Roy Innovation Center. (Brice Wallace/Salt Lake Business Journal)
Grumman keeps growing.
The largest defense contractor in Utah recently broke ground for the sixth major building at its Roy Innovation Center, the heart of the company's Sentinel program that will replace the Minuteman III weapons system with a new generation of ground-based ICBM weapons for the U.S. Air Force.
The 200,000-square-foot Legacy Building will join the 900,000-square-foot Roy campus, where defense work is expected to last for decades. The building will provide the space and infrastructure needed to support continued growth of the company's workforce and programs, help the company attract and retain top tech talent, and create an environment where innovation can thrive, according to Ben Davies, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Defense Systems.
A rendering depicts the Legacy Building planned at Northrop Grumman's Roy Innovation Center. The 200,000-square-foot building is expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2028. (Courtesy Northrop Grumman)
"Most importantly, it will help ensure that the teams building the future of strategic deterrence have what they need to be successful," Davies said.
"Years from now, employees will walk these halls and contribute to accomplishments we cannot yet imagine. They will develop new ideas, mentor future leaders, strengthen partnerships and achieve milestones that become part of Northrop's story."
Construction on the Legacy Building is expected to begin next month, with initial occupancy expected by early 2028. When completed, it will become part of a campus of over 1.1 million square feet, including 7,000 square feet of laboratories, and capacity for about 5,000 employees. The Roy Innovation Center borders Hill Air Force Base.
The company already has more than 11,000 employees and more than 600 supplier partners in Utah and has a $12.4 billion economic impact. With five major locations in the state, it supports strategic deterrence through advanced manufacturing, modernization, sustainment and propulsion technologies spanning air, land and space.
Since 2019, Northrop Grumman has invested $13.5 billion in infrastructure and research and development, including $2 billion dedicated to solid rocket motor capacity and capabilities that will be used for the Sentinel program and the broader strategic deterrence and space launch industrial base.
Sarah Willoughby, vice president and general manager of strategic deterrent systems for the company, said the Legacy Building expansion represents "our continued investment in our people, our partnerships and the capabilities that are critical to defending our nation for generations to come."
Sarah Willoughby, Northrop Grumman vice president and general manager of strategic deterrent systems for the company, speaks to the crowd gathered for the ceremonial groundbreaking event for the Legacy Building, the sixth major building at the company's Roy Innovation Center. (Brice Wallace/Salt Lake Business Journal)
The company's work in Northern Utah includes designing systems, prototyping of launch silos and ground-testing solid rocket motors in Promontory, and advancing to flight tests next year in order to have Sentinel available to the military in the early 2030s. The Sentinel program has about 5,200 employees at 500 facilities in five states.
"To support that momentum, the Roy Innovation Center is growing — carefully, deliberately. A strategically based expansion, aligned with state economic development plans and the evolving needs of Hill Air Force Base, we're transforming the Roy/Ogden/Salt Lake corridor from a regional defense hub into a nationally recognized innovation powerhouse," Willoughby said.
At a gathering to mark the expansion and during a news media huddle intensified by the roar of fighter jets flying and landing at Hill Air Force Base, Gov. Spencer Cox noted that several years ago, the future of Hill Air Force Base was in jeopardy, with people wondering what would happen if it were to close.
"And yet here we are in Roy, the Ogden/Greater Salt Lake Area, stronger than ever, [with] more employment opportunities than ever before, because of projects like Sentinel and others that are located here," Cox said.
Participating in the ceremonial groundbreaking for Northrop Grumman's Legacy Building are (from left) Tony Nolls, the company's director of operations; Taylor Woodbury, CEO of Woodbury Construction; Sarah Willoughby, vice president and general manager of strategic deterrent systems for the company; Gov. Spencer Cox; Ben Davies, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Defense Systems; Amanda Davis, vice president and Sentinel EMD program manager for the company; and Joshua Johnson, Northrop Grumman vice president of business management. (Brice Wallace/Salt Lake Business Journal)
The governor stressed that Utah supports America's warfighters and their families, as do the Northrop Grumman employees in Roy. "The world is an ever-growing, more dangerous place, and buildings like this make the world a safer place," Cox said. "They make America a safer place."
Cox thanked Northrop Grumman for selecting Utah for the Sentinel program. "Please know that you have our support, you have our gratitude," he said, "not just for the jobs that you make but for the things that you make here that will keep the world safe for generations to come."
Participants in the ceremonial groundbreaking included Cox; Davies; Willoughby; Tony Nolls, director of operations for Northrop Grumman; Taylor Woodbury, CEO of Woodbury Construction; Amanda Davis, vice president and Sentinel EMD program manager at Northrop Grumman; and Joshua Johnson, vice president of business management at the company.
