BAE Systems announced Wednesday a $135 million investment for upgrades to its facilities in Hudson, N.H., and Austin, Texas, to further strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, the company said.
The company’s Electronic Systems sector has 16,668 employees, including 6,774 in New Hampshire, where BAE has long been the state’s largest manufacturing employer.
The infrastructure improvements, which BAE said it is funding entirely with its own capital investment, is intended to accelerate delivery of critical systems and software for the U.S. military.
BAE Systems announced facility upgrades May 20 to enhance aerospace programs at its campuses in Hudson, NH, and Austin, Texas. (Courtesy/BAE Systems)
“This investment in capacity underscores BAE Systems’ long-term commitment to equipping U.S. warfighters with the capabilities they need, when they need them,” said Dave Harrold, vice president and general manager of Countermeasure & Electromagnetic Attack Solutions at BAE Systems, in a press release. “We’re building for the future, delivering at speed and scale, and enabling the capabilities required to deter aggression.”
Approximately $85 million is being deployed in Hudson, where BAE’s 1,052 workers design, develop and test advanced capabilities. That site opened in 1983.
“The renovation will modernize and reconfigure 65,000 square feet of workspace to optimize workflow and support the future needs of U.S. and allied customers,” the company said.
BAE Systems, based in London, employs more than 110,000 people in 40 countries. Its presence in New Hampshire is rooted in Sanders Associates, a tech company that was spun out of Raytheon that moved from Waltham, Mass., to Nashua in 1952.
The majority of BAE’s Granite State employees are based in Nashua, where it employs 3,964 workers, followed by 1,302 in Merrimack. The company’s newest campus — an engineering and production site in Manchester BAE opened in 2022 — employs 456, according to the company.
A $50 million manufacturing overhaul in Austin will scale the company’s factory infrastructure to meet defense requirements for precision munitions
“These industrial and manufacturing enhancements will support mission-critical Department of War and aerospace programs,” the company said. “This investment reinforces BAE Systems’ commitment to the American worker by creating new engineering and skilled manufacturing jobs.
BAE Systems, whose products including F35 fighter jet components, recently reported strong operational and financial performance, saying it has traded well in the first four months of the year and expects strong growth and sales to continue.
“We’ve delivered a strong start to 2026, underpinning our full‐year guidance,” said Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems chief executive, in a May 7 trading statement.
The company cited security threats around the world that are leading governments to increase defense spending.
“We expect significant opportunities across our business, including space systems, missile and air defence systems, drones and counter drone technology, electronic warfare, combat aircraft, combat vehicles, frigates and submarines, among other customer priorities,” the British company said.
BAE was cited in a recent story by the BBC as among the companies “making billions from the Iran war.”
“As households across the globe count the costs of the US-Israel war in Iran, some companies have been counting bumper profits instead,” said BBC, listing defenses, oil and gas, big banks and renewable energy as sectors profiting from the conflict.
Other defense companies with New Hampshire connections are seeing an uptick in business.
In April, L3Harris Technologies announced a $1 billion investment from the Department of Defense in its Missile Solutions Business, which the company said it will use “to expand and modernize facilities, accelerate research and development, and increase production capacity for critical national security technologies.”
L3Harris operates a campus in Londonderry, NH, where it manufactures night vision equipment and electro-optical devices. That location was formerly owned by Insight Technologies, which L3 Communications acquired in 2010 before its merger with Harris Corporation in 2019
Nearly 24,000 jobs are supported by the aerospace and defense sector in New Hampshire, which directly employs about 10,500 workers, according to Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group based in Arlington, Virginia. The Granite State’s share of the aerospace and defense workforce is about 1%, based on 2023 figures.
The state Department of Business and Economic Affairs includes aerospace and defense in New Hampshire’s advanced manufacturing sector, which represents more than 42,000 jobs and 1,100 businesses, according to a 2024 report prepared for the state. The cluster’s share of jobs in the state is 60% higher than the national average, the report said.
