Lee County defense manufacturing investment draws national spotlight

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) — U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped move General Atomics’ newest missile, Vektrex, into production.

Vektrex is a long-range 155 mm artillery projectile. This project represents General Atomics’ 14th investment and includes a $250 million commitment.

Wicker was joined by senior Department of Defense leaders at the Shannon-based company.

The munition is intended to help the United States replenish and expand its weapons inventory.

It is part of a broader effort to strengthen the nation’s defensive industrial base and improve military readiness.

“We build up our military capacity to avoid war, and this is the best way for national security to be able to overwhelm any enemy that might take us on,” the Republican senator said.

Michael Duffey, the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, said the facility represents the future of defense manufacturing.

“A facility like this is just at the cutting edge of how we need to be producing weapons in the future,” Duffey explained. “The ability to automate this process the way General Atomics has represents the future of our defense industrial base.”

Scott Forney, president of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, said the nature of warfare is changing.

“The war is changing,” Forney said. “We’re now seeing shahed that are built for $35,000. We have to have ways to combat them, and that’s what General Atomics really spends a lot of effort on.”

Shaheds are drones.

Forney said they are already working on the next generation and a generation after that to make sure they are ready to support the Department of Defense and the Department of War.