Advanced weapons, aerospace and space systems headquarters to move to Eden Prairie in April

By John Molene

When the headquarters of Alliant Techsystems Inc. moves from Edina to Eden Prairie sometime in April, the city’s growing high tech business base is going to take off – quite literally.

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is a leading provider of advanced weapon and space systems with $4.1 billion in annual sales, approximately 16,500 employees and operations in 21 states. The company is the world’s leading supplier of solid rocket motors and the nation’s largest manufacturer of ammunition.

The company is ranked the 13th largest defense contractor by “Defense News” and the ninth largest world space company by “Space News.”

ATK is scheduled to move into a new leased 100,000-square-foot office building at 7480 Flying Cloud Drive in late April, said company spokesman Brian Grace. The company had been seeking to upgrade its facilities from its current location in Edina for some time, Grace said.

“We were looking for a bigger building, and a nicer space, and Eden Prairie is a great community,” said Grace. “We were looking for a new facility that would be built specifically for our needs, and Eden Prairie has a lot of great services.”

About 350 employees from the company headquarters will relocate. Divisions such as corporation executive offices, accounting, communications, business development, technologies, information technology, security and human resources will operate out of the Eden Prairie office.

ATK has more than 50 facilities in 21 states, representatives in more than 500 countries and Minnesota operations in Anoka, Elk River and Plymouth.

According to their latest financial information, for the fiscal year ending in March 2007, ATK had $3.6 billion in sales and $3.9 billion in orders during its last fiscal period.

Of those sales, 29 percent were to the U.S. Army, 16 percent to the Air Force, 12 percent to the Navy and 14 percent to NASA. The company also listed 8 percent sales to other U.S. government agencies and 21 percent to commercial and/or international accounts.

The company’s sales were divided almost evenly through its three divisions, with $1.3 billion in sales in ammunition systems, $1.2 billion in sales in mission systems and $1.1 billion in sales in launch systems.

The company broke ground last summer for its new headquarters. The framing of the new facility is done and the first floor poured. ATK plans to move into the building in mid to late April, about the time its present lease at the Edina site expires.

ATK supplies aerospace and defense products to the U.S. government, allied nations, and prime contractors in the United States. ATK also supplies ammunition and related accessories to law enforcement agencies and commercial customers.

Working in the space systems industry is particularly exciting, noted Grace.

In August, ATK received a $1.8 billion contract from NASA to design, develop and test the first stage of the Ares I launch vehicle. ATK’s solid rocket motor technology – currently used in the space shuttle's Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRMs) – is the foundation of that system, and also of the boosters separating from the larger Ares V vehicle.

NASA’s Ares rockets, named for the Greek god associated with Mars, will return humans to the moon and later take them to Mars and other destinations. The Ares V can lift more than 286,000 pounds to low Earth orbit and stands approximately 360 feet tall. This versatile system will be used to carry cargo and the components into orbit needed to go to the moon and later to Mars.

Alliant was founded in 1990, following a spin off from Honeywell and has been headquartered at 5050 Lincoln Drive in Edina.

Because it is a high-profile defense contractor, the company’s headquarters is targeted for a weekly peace vigil by the Alliant Action (see sidebar).

ATK operations are in three divisions: Mission Systems Group, Ammunition Systems Group and Launch Systems Group.

* The Mission Systems Group segment develops and produces advanced missile systems, precision-guided munitions, force protection systems, speed-of-light weapons, soldier weapon systems, barrier systems and large-caliber ammunition; tactical and hypersonic propulsion systems, warheads, fuses, and missile defense divert and control systems; rocket motors; and precision fuses.

This segment also operates as a contractor for various electronic warfare and aircraft integration programs, and provides precision-engineered low-observable structural components, high-temperature engine components, and high-performance radomes and apertures; satellite components and sub-systems; solar arrays and solar panel substrates; optical support structures, spacecraft telescopes, and imaging systems; titanium propellant tanks; and STAR orbit insertion motors place satellites.

It also provides provide scientific, engineering, and technical assistance; contract research and development services; and specialized testing to prime contractors and government agencies.

* The Ammunition Systems Group segment develops and produces military ammunition and gun systems; civil ammunition and accessories; and propellant and energetic materials in the U.S. Army ammunition plants in Independence, Mo., and Radford, Va.

* The Launch Systems Group segment produces rocket motor systems for human and cargo launch vehicles, conventional and strategic missiles, and missile defense interceptors, as well as ordnance, which includes decoy and illuminating flares.

ATK’s growth in the weapons and space systems industries has been fueled by an innovative business philosophy, said Grace.

“What ATK is really good at, is taking existing things that the taxpayers have already paid for and then improving the precision, or adapting new uses for those technologies,” said Grace.

The ATK of today evolved from three separate tracks, tracing its lineage as far back as E.I. DuPont Inc. in 1802. Alliant Techsystems itself was a spinoff from the Honeywell Systems Group in 1990. Since then, the company has acquired Hercules Aerospace Co., Blount International Inc. (ammunition business), the ordnance operations of Boeing, Swales Aerospace, Thiokol Propulsion and The PSI Group (Satellite components) among others.