06
Aerospace Anchor

One of the world's largest defense companies
builds drones in Moss Point.

Beside Trent Lott International Airport, Gulf Coast workers build the fuselage of the MQ-4C Triton, the most advanced ocean-surveillance drone flown by the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. Northrop Grumman has built unmanned aircraft on this field for twenty years.

What They Build Here
The MQ-4C Triton fuselage for the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, plus sub-assembly work for the F-35 Lightning II fighter.
MQ-4C Triton
Fuselage Built Here for the U.S. Navy & Royal Australian Air Force
Since 2006
Purpose-Built Aerospace Plant Beside the Airport
$1B+
Annual Output Across Northrop Grumman's Mississippi Operations
What Gets Built Here

The drones that watch the world's oceans start in Moss Point.

An MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft on a U.S. Navy flight line; its fuselage is built in Moss Point
The MQ-4C Triton, the maritime surveillance drone whose fuselage is built in Moss Point. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nathan T. Beard.

That campus beside the runway is not an office park. It is Northrop Grumman's Moss Point plant, a purpose-built production facility the company opened in 2006, where Gulf Coast workers build the fuselage of the MQ-4C Triton.

The Triton is the most advanced high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. It patrols thousands of miles of ocean on a single mission. The main body of that aircraft is built in Moss Point, then shipped to Northrop Grumman's plant in Palmdale, California to be mated with the wing and finished. The first Australian Triton began its build right here in Moss Point.

The plant also performs sub-assembly work for the F-35 Lightning II, the fighter jet flown by the United States and its allies. For most of its first two decades, Moss Point built the Navy's Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and sections of the Global Hawk as well. This is a site that has built real military aircraft, year after year, since the day it opened.

The Plant
  • Opened in 2006, purpose-built for aircraft production
  • On Avtech Parkway, directly beside Trent Lott International Airport
  • One of four Northrop Grumman sites in Mississippi
Why It Matters Here
Proof, not promise.
Advanced aerospace manufacturing has run beside this field for twenty years, with the workforce, the suppliers, and the flight access to show for it.
The Programs

What the Moss Point plant builds, and what it has built.

By the Numbers

An aerospace anchor on the Gulf Coast.

2006
Plant opened beside Trent Lott International Airport
Triton
MQ-4C fuselage built here for the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force
F-35
Sub-assembly work for the Lightning II fighter program
$1B+
Annual economic output across Northrop Grumman's Mississippi operations
800+
Northrop Grumman employees across its four Mississippi sites
Next Door
Corporate-aviation access at the airport, minutes from the plant
For a Business Choosing the Coast

What a defense anchor means for the rest of Moss Point.

The Credibility It Brings
A proven aerospace workforce. Two decades of building military aircraft has trained a Gulf Coast workforce in precision manufacturing, integration, and testing.

A supplier base already here. An anchor this size pulls in the suppliers, the trades, and the support firms that the next manufacturer can tap into.

Flight access on the doorstep. The plant sits beside Trent Lott International Airport, the same corporate-aviation access that serves the region's other employers.

Proof the model works. When a company of this scale builds here for twenty years, it answers the first question every manufacturer asks: can advanced work be done in Moss Point. It already is.
The Airport Next Door
The Northrop Grumman plant and Trent Lott International Airport sit side by side. The airport is the access layer beneath this corner of Moss Point, and it is its own opportunity in this collection.

Learn more or talk it through:
Mayor Billy Knight, City of Moss Point
(228) 475-0300 · 4320 McInnis Avenue
Express Interest

The aerospace anchor is already on the ground.

One of the world's largest defense companies builds advanced aircraft in Moss Point, and has for twenty years. The workforce, the suppliers, and the access are here. The next move is yours.

Start the Conversation →
All Opportunities