Indiana's New $6 billion Commercial Defense Corridor

As construction crews fashion bridges and pour concrete, the long-awaited I-69 begins to take shape in southwestern Indiana, representing a whole new economic opportunity for Indiana’s defense and energy sector. Originally isolated in its early days as a Tier I ammunition depot during World War II, the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) – together with the WestGate @ Crane Technology Park and other military technology assets – will soon possess all-new logistical access through I-69 with other key commercial defense assets in the state.

Soon to stretch essentially from Evansville to Angola in northeast Indiana, I-69 will link together billion-dollar assets completely across the state, effectively becoming a commercial defense and energy corridor for Indiana. Until a few years ago, Indiana’s defense- and energy-related companies in southern Indiana represented a relative unknown. Here’s a snapshot of the major assets located on this emerging commercial defense corridor.

As the state’s commercial defense activities more than tripled over the past decade, AmeriQual in Evansville became the nation’s largest provider of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs – formerly known as k-rations) for the U.S. military. Continuing a 20-year transformation, NSWC Crane (located on the 100 square miles of the Naval Support Activity facility near Crane, Indiana) today represents a major military laboratory providing technology and support services for all branches of the U.S. military and Homeland Security, as well as a major technology resource for the energy storage and electric vehicle industry.

The WestGate @ Crane Technology Park, certified by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) about five years ago, today is home to more than 10 major commercial defense contractors serving NSWC Crane and the 5,000 defense-related employees in the region. The park is located next to both NSWC Crane and I-69, the latter of which will provide highly strategic for future growth. Nearby are the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center and Camp Atterbury, Indiana’s premier training and mobilization center. All of these assets and others are being positioned for major economic growth by the Radius Indiana regional partnership, located in Bedford, Indiana, which is also home to the EastGate industrial park

About 20 miles to north of NSWC Crane and the WestGate is the main Bloomington campus of Indiana University, home to the IU School of Informatics and faculty members engaged in advanced defense work. Numerous defense companies serving NSWC Crane and other national defense contracts are also located in Bloomington.

Continuing up I-69 and S.R. 37 to Indianapolis, several major commercial defense companies employ thousands of Hoosiers in high-impact, high-wage jobs. These include Raytheon, Rolls Royce, Allison Transmission and other companies directly working in defense cluster companies. North of Indianapolis on I-69 lies the cities of Fishers and Anderson, both home to defense-related technology companies presently doing work for the Pentagon communication systems and in advanced battery and energy storage technology.

Continuing above Anderson is tiny Taylor University in Upland, where students and faculty work on NASA contracts.

New I-69 off ramp takes place just outside WestGate @ Crane Technology Park

The 10 counties served by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership represent another major hotbed of commercial defense activities. About 4,000 defense-related employees work at another division of Raytheon in Fort Wayne, as well as ITT, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and other defense companies. A major flying wing of the Indiana Air National Guard is located in Fort Wayne, and the city is also home to the Indiana University-Purdue University campus at Fort Wayne (IPFW). IPFW houses two centers of excellence critically related to the defense and energy industries: wireless and systems engineering. Iotron's new $15-million electron-beam facility is just a few miles away in Columbia City, next to other commercial defense operations.

Numerous other major assets exist in Indiana, including defense- and energy related companies and research activities at Purdue in West Lafayette, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute (which has conducted graduate engineering programs at NSWC Crane for several years) and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend (which is also home to AM General, where the Humvee and HUMMER military transport vehicles are manufactured).

Given that IEDC is now aggressively marketing Indiana’s defense assets and the Indiana General Assembly has a formal Crane Caucus led by Rep. Mark Messmer to help support growth, Indiana could again double or even triple its current defense and energy industry activities over the coming decade.  The I-69 defense and energy corridor is becoming real, as will thousands of new jobs as new companies join in Indiana’s new commercial defense opportunities.