On Tuesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) investment in a new integration and assembly facility from defense and aerospace company Saab in Grayling.
“We are making a long-term commitment not only to the U.S. defense industrial base, but to the local community as well. Saab plays a positive role in the communities where we live and work, creating jobs and investing in the local community, and we look forward to joining the Grayling community,” said Erik Smith, President and CEO of Saab in the U.S.
The MSF board approved support for Saab Inc. to support the engineering and production of U.S. Military products. The facility will be Saab’s first investment in Michigan.
A $3.5 million Michigan Business Development Program (MBDP) grant will also support the project.
“It should bring 70 jobs to start with, up to possibly 140 or more jobs after it’s up and running. So this would be great for our community,” said Joe Smock, Grayling Township trustee.
Those jobs cover all aspects of the company’s land-based output, including manufacturing, assembly, testing, engineering and operations. The facility is also expected to bring $75 million or more in capital to the Grayling area.
But some leaders are skeptical of those projections and the downsides of a factory.
“The area where we live, which is so special to so many, what this area has, there’s too big of a risk to bring a munitions company to town for 70 jobs. And we question whether those 70 jobs are really going to be 70 jobs here, or they’re going to be on other locations,” said Jim Knight, Bear Lake Township trustee.
Knight said one of those things that make Grayling so special is natural resources like the Au Sable River. There’s concern over the environmental impact that factory processes and possible munitions testing could have.
“What would happen 10 years from now when maybe bombs and missiles are not the thing to use in wars anymore, and there’s something else...that’s needed? All we’re saying is please do this in a test area. We do not live in a testing area,” said Knight.
Smock said any testing will likely happen at the Michigan National Guard’s Camp Grayling. “A range that belongs to Camp Grayling, a certified test range to test their AT4,” said Smock. “If they (Saab) come here, I believe that’s what they’ll use.”
He said the National Guard would not have any direct benefit from this facility, and that environmental concerns are being addressed.
“There’s an environmental study that’s going to be done by AECOM, an independent agency that does studies all over,” said Smock. “Once that report comes back, that will come back to the township [with] any concerns.”
After the environmental study is done, there will be an approval process including questions from the Crawford County Economic Development Partnership and a vote by the Grayling Township board.
Later this year, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will publicly notice and consider a sale of land for the facility under an existing understanding with the local community.
Groundbreaking is slated to happen sometime before the end of the year.