Rolls-Royce has completed a decade-long $1 billion investment programme in Indiana, expanding manufacturing, assembly and engine-test facilities supporting US military aircraft including the B-52, C-130J, V-22 and MQ-25A, according to the company.
Rolls-Royce announced completion of the programme on 27 August, describing it as the largest investment the company has made in the United States.
The work has modernised manufacturing facilities across the company’s Indianapolis campus and added full engine-test capability. It also includes new ground-test facilities and an altitude-test facility at West Lafayette. Rolls-Royce said more of its defence products are now built in Indianapolis than at any other company site worldwide.
Adam Riddle, President of Defence and Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce North America, said in the company release: “This billion-dollar investment is about more than buildings and test cells — it is about delivering for the American warfighter, on time and at the standard our customers expect. We made this investment because it was the right thing to do for U.S. national security and for the future of Rolls-Royce.”
The Indianapolis site builds and tests engines for a range of current and future US military aircraft. Rolls-Royce identified future propulsion work for the US Air Force’s B-52 strategic bomber and the US Army’s MV-75 Cheyenne among the programmes supported by the campus.
Current production also supports the V-22 Osprey, Lockheed Martin C-130J and the US Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray uncrewed carrier-based tanker. The investment therefore spans both established fleets and aircraft currently entering or preparing for future service, with the Indiana facilities covering manufacturing as well as assembly and testing.
Rolls-Royce employs approximately 3,500 people in Indianapolis, including a unionised manufacturing workforce, and says its operations support additional employment through suppliers elsewhere in Indiana. Indiana Governor Mike Braun said in the release: “Rolls-Royce has called Indiana home for three decades, and this billion-dollar investment is a vote of confidence in Hoosier workers and our state.”
He added: “Advanced manufacturing like this is exactly what keeps Indiana’s economy strong and growing. We are proud that Indiana is home to Rolls-Royce in the U.S., and we look forward to their continued success for generations to come.”
The company has also invested elsewhere in its American industrial base. According to Rolls-Royce, expenditure over the past decade amounts to more than $1.5 billion across US facilities and almost $2.5 billion in research and development.
The Indianapolis campus is also home to LibertyWorks, Rolls-Royce’s advanced research organisation. Its work includes propulsion technologies and high-temperature materials, supported in part through a $75 million, ten-year research alliance with Purdue University.
US Senator Todd Young said: “This investment is a testament to the hard-working Hoosiers who power this facility. Rolls-Royce understands the importance of producing advanced military technologies here in the United States, and this billion-dollar investment shows that Indiana is leading the way in meeting the needs of our defense industrial base.”
