On the plains 15 miles east of Pueblo, Voyager Technologies is building an advanced manufacturing complex to make components for weapons, rocket motors, critical chemicals and propellants as the Trump administration looks to rebuild the nation’s defense industrial base.

Denver-based Voyager celebrated the start of construction on Wednesday on its new facility, the Voyager American Defense Complex. It will cover 150,000 square feet at PuebloPlex, an industrial park that was formerly the Army Pueblo Chemical Depot. 

The vast industrial park was previously home to manufacturing for guidance and control systems for Pershing missiles back in the 1970s and 80s before becoming a storage area for mustard gas rounds. The final rounds were destroyed in 2023. 

As workers at the mustard gas shell destruction plant prepare for the demolition of some buildings, construction crews are moving dirt for Voyager’s new advanced manufacturing facility.

Speakers such as Congressman Jeff Hurd, a Republican who represents Pueblo, southern Colorado and the Western Slope, and others highlighted the importance of the new plant as the nation looks to keep pace with Russia and China. 

“The Department of Defense has also been clear: We need more domestic production capacity, more resilience in our supply chain, and our ability to scale quickly when conditions demand it. That means building things here at home and doing it at speed and at scale,” Hurd said. 

The new facility helps build resilience as part of a “ground-to-round” company, explained Karl Kulling, general manager with Voyager Technologies and a Colorado Springs resident. 

“We are looking at how do we take raw materials that we can mine here in the U.S. and make the chemicals that we need to make rocket motors, to make pyrotechnics, to make the end systems that this country needs,” he said.  In 2021, Kulling founded Estes Energetics, the company that had planned the new plant at PuebloPlex before Voyager purchased Estes in November. Estes Energetics was a spin-off of Estes Industries, the model rocket manufacturer based in Penrose. 

The purchase has provided the resources needed to grow fast, Kulling said. 

“It seems like a perfect fit with their mission and our mission really being well aligned,” Kulling said. 

In addition to rocket motors, the company also expects to make control systems that enable on-demand steering on missiles, he said. It will also produce key chemicals for the defense industry and recently purchased the only commercial-scale manufacturer of black powder in the U.S. The company’s chemical and black powder development has received $39 million in federal funding, according to the news release.  

The new facility is expected to open in phases, and the first phase is expected to be completed later this year, Kulling said. 

Eventually, he expects the Voyager will employ hundreds of people at PuebloPlex. Kulling has already hired people who were laid off from the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant as it wraps up operations. They have been a good fit because they are used to dealing with hazardous materials, he said.  

The facility will feature manufacturing automation to help keep workers safe, he said. The automation will help limit the exposure to explosives, an important safety feature, and help speed output as well. In addition to manufacturing, the site offers plenty of open space for testing.

Voyager’s major investment at PuebloPlex makes it the second anchor tenant, joining MxV Rail. A subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads, MxV focuses on research and testing, mostly for freight rail companies.

PuebloPlex is hopeful additional aerospace and defense companies might follow Voyager to the industrial park, said Kurt Madic, director of business development. 

“I think this shows the vast opportunities and potential here,” he said. 

He would like to see thousands of jobs return to the 23,000-acre campus. In the 1960s, the Army employed 8,000 people at its peak. 

In addition to rail and aerospace and defense, Madic sees potential for the park to host a data center, logistics and distribution companies and renewable energy infrastructure, such as batteries.