Saab will open a munitions production facility in Grayling, Michigan, the company announced Tuesday.
The Swedish company, which plans to break ground by the end of the year, said it will use the facility for final assembly and integration of shoulder-fired munitions and precision fire systems.
Manufacturing work will begin in early 2026, according to a company statement.
“We are making a long-term commitment not only to the U.S. defense industrial base, but to the local community as well,” Erik Smith, president and CEO of Saab in the U.S., said. “Saab plays a positive role in the communities where we live and work, creating jobs and investing in the local community, and we look forward to joining the Grayling community.”
The Michigan site, chosen from six possible locations, presented the “most efficient way to execute the work that we have to get done,” Smith told Defense News. The 388-acre plot is located near the largest Army National Guard training base in the country, and the region also has an experienced workforce needed for the type of production.
Smith first told Defense News of Saab’s plans to grow its footprint in the U.S. with a new facility focused on manufacturing ground combat weapons and missile systems in March. He noted six states were in the running.
The new site is part of a global manufacturing push by the company to quadruple its global capacity to produce its ground combat weapons, he said.
“As this facility ramps up, what you will see is a combination of products that Saab is very well known for and some new products that really haven’t hit the market yet.”
The new facility will create at least 70 jobs, the company statement notes. There is potential to hire even more employees as the facility gets up and running, according to Smith.
The site size “allows for expansion for when we need it,” Smith said. “I do envision engineering capacity there as well as the business evolves,” he added, but noted, “right now we are pretty laser focused on manufacturing capacity.”
The facility will feature advanced manufacturing capability and an innovation center to enhance munitions production capacity stateside, according to Smith. He also said it will support the production of components for the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, or GLSDB, system and close combat weapons.
Saab joins a wide variety of defense manufacturers in Michigan, a state with a long legacy of weapons production.
“We built the arsenal of democracy to win WWII and will keep rolling up our sleeves to protect our national defense,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in the company statement. “We are building on our economic momentum and strong reputation as a leader in advanced manufacturing.”
Saab will now have 10 facilities operating in the U.S. Other locations include West Lafayette, Indiana, for aerospace advanced manufacturing; Syracuse, New York, for radar and sensor systems; and Cranston, Rhode Island, and Quincy, Massachusetts, for autonomous and undersea systems.
The facility will follow a similar model to what Saab did with its West Lafayette site, Smith told Defense News. In that case, the first engineering and manufacturing development fuselages were built in Sweden, then, in parallel, Saab built the Indiana plant with high-end technology to produce the fuselages beginning with low-rate initial production.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
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