Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK – Simply put, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane’s central mission is putting the latest and best technology in the hands of warfighters. To do that requires a highly skilled and large workforce. Ninety percent of those workers live in the 11-county region surrounding the base.
Naval Support Activity Crane, which includes NSWC Crane and Crane Army Ammunition Activity, is part of a growing defense ecosystem in southern Indiana. The daytime population of Naval Support Activity Crane is more than 6,500, making its workforce larger than many of the communities surrounding it.
Also part of that growth is the WestGate Technology Park, home to 60 organizations and defense businesses.
To support future growth, the surrounding communities will continue to be critical to providing housing and other amenities for the growing workforce at NSA Crane and WesGate.
Last week, a panel of representatives from NSWC Crane, CAAA, WestGate and the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council gave an update of Crane and WestGate activities during the Radius Indiana Economic Development for Community Leadership course.
The panelists were Jenna Dix, director of engagement at NSWC Crane; Tom Peske, business development manager at CAAA; Shance Sizemore, LCEGC CEO; and Bryant Niehoff, CEO of the Uplands Science and Technology Foundation.
The panelists gave an overview of their organizations and how reliant they are on neighboring communities to support their missions.
Covering 62,000 acres, NSA Crane is the third largest Navy installation in the world. It contains 500 miles of road, 95 miles of active rail line and 3,000 buildings make up the base.
“Our mission is to ensure the warfighter has everything they need to do their jobs,” Dix said.
Fulfilling that mission today is a workforce that is 70% scientists, engineers and technicians. NSWC Crane’s economic impact, when combining contract obligations and salaries is $3.5 billion.
Dix said NSWC is investing in the future workforce of Crane by hosting regular STEM activities for area students. In 2024, Dix said 10,000 students from 40 schools took part in STEM activities. Field trips and summer camps are offered for teachers to bring more STEM learning into their classrooms.
The total salaries for base employees who live in the Uplands region is more than $400 million, Dix said.
“As we continue to work on our technical mission, offices like mine work to make sure our communities are poised to support the work of Crane,” she said.
Crane AAA
CAAA’s place at Crane dates back to the 1940s when Europe was at war and the United States was preparing for war. Recognizing the need for a munitions depot away from the coasts, Crane was chosen as a place to manufacture and store munitions.
By the 1970s, CAAA was the second largest Army depot on the third largest Naval base. Today, CAAA is “a cradle to grave” depot of ammunition that includes distribution, storage and demilitarization. One quarter of the Department of Defense’s ammunition is stored at CAAA, Peske said, serving all the US Armed Services with munitions.
CAAA specializes in energetics, including illumination candles, which are fired into the air and illuminate a battlefield, and also countermeasure flares for aircraft, producing flares for the US Navy and the US Air Force.
With a mostly blue collar workforce between 600 and 700 employees, Peske said southern Indiana’s strong history of manufacturing provides a great labor pool to fill its workforce needs.
WestGate Tech Park
In 20 years, WestGate has evolved from a concept that grew out of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which resulted in closures and strategic transformation, to a campus that has 21 buildings and home to more than 1,000 workers – a 20% increase over the last two years – the annual payroll of those jobs is $92 million.
The WestGate footprint lies in parts of three counties – Daviess Greene and Martin counties; 60 businesses and organizations are located at WestGate.
“As a region, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was a wake-up call in how we continue to support and grow Crane for the immense economic impact they have on our state,” Niehoff said.
A master plan is forecasting a decade of growth involving microelectronics and hypersonics.
Additional investments are on the horizon.
- Amentum, a current WestGate tenant, will invest $120 million in a new radiation testing facility at WestGate.
- New tenants will be moving into the former SAIC building, estimated to be a $6.5 million investment.
- CACI, also an existing tenant, will build a 62,000-square foot office building and lab space, investing between $15 million to $20 million.
- A month ago, defense company Kratos, broke ground on a $50 million hypersonics test bed facility.
Growing defense presence
Sizemore gave a snapshot of how the Lawrence County economy has benefitted from the growing defense presence.
Defense companies SAIC, Bowhead, Tristar and Barbaricum are large employers in the county. SAIC, once a tenant in the EastGate Business and Technology Center, now occupies the entire building.
“Nearly 1,000 federal employees live in Lawrence County,” Sizemore said.
As an economic developer, Sizemore said one of the growth council’s priorities is making sure job training and K-12 education matches the future needs of Crane and WestGate.
Janna Foxx, Crane Regional Defense Group program manager, moderated the panel.
“It was an honor to lead this panel,” Foxx said. “We need to take every opportunity to ensure the communities surrounding the base, including these elected officials, understand the mission of the base, the impact the base has on the communities, and most importantly, the impact these government employees have on the warfighter daily.”
About the course
The Radius Economic Development for Community Leadership brought together 25 leaders from nine counties. The course was held at the French Lick Resort April 22-24.
The course covered:
- Housing
- Child care
- Entrepreneurship
- Site development
- Quality of Place
- Marketing
- Business Retention and Expansion
- Tourism
- Incentives