‘We can’t just command the skies and the seas, or our hemisphere, we have to dominate the ultimate high ground’
WATCH: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a high-profile stop Monday at Kennedy Space Center and the sprawling Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility on Merritt Island, underscoring the Trump administration’s emphasis on strengthening domestic defense production and space-related industry partnerships. (U.S. Department of War video)
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA — U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a high-profile stop Monday at the sprawling Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility on Merritt Island, underscoring the Trump administration’s emphasis on strengthening domestic defense production and space-related industry partnerships.
Hegseth’s remarks came as part of what the War Department is calling its “Arsenal of Freedom” tour — a nationwide series of visits to defense manufacturers, shipyards, and aerospace facilities intended to highlight the administration’s push to “revitalize” the nation’s industrial base for defense and security priorities.
Arriving at the 750,000-square-foot rocket complex — nestled just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center — Hegseth walked among workers and machinery involved in the construction of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets and other space systems.
The facility is a key hub for the company’s heavy-lift launch vehicle production and supports broader commercial and government space missions.
In a speech to employees and local leaders, Hegseth framed private aerospace manufacturing as a critical component of national defense amid intensifying global competition. “What you are building here is a core function of the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth said, praising the skill of American engineers and factory workers.
He tied the administration’s industrial agenda to broader ambitions for U.S. military and technological superiority in space, calling it “the ultimate high ground.”
Hegseth reiterated claims that deeper collaboration between the Department of War and private industry will bolster readiness and shorten production cycles for advanced defense hardware.
The visit also highlighted Florida’s growing role as a center of aerospace activity. Blue Origin’s Merritt Island facility stands alongside other commercial and government operations on the Space Coast that have expanded considerably since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program.
While at the facility, Hegseth emphasized accountability in defense manufacturing and acknowledged the pressures from global adversaries such as China and Iran, noting that rapid innovation and production are essential to maintaining a strategic edge.
The secretary’s tour of the Space Coast followed an earlier morning visit to NASA facilities in Cape Canaveral, where he joined agency leadership for inspections tied to the upcoming Artemis II mission preparations.
The administration’s space policy has been a focal point of debate in Washington, balancing national security imperatives with commercial partnerships to drive U.S. technological leadership well beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
In that context, Hegseth’s remarks at Blue Origin reinforced the message that defense strategy and industrial capability are increasingly interlinked.
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