Ophthalmologist near Ladson, SC

A major foreign defense manufacturer has been operating in Charleston County for more than six months, but it has disclosed very little about the nature of its work since the facility first opened for business.

Elbit Systems America — a subsidiary of Israeli-owned Elbit Systems Inc., which has 10 sites in the U.S. mostly located on the East Coast — officially started operations in Ladson in May. As a whole, the company supplies up to 85% of land-based military equipment to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Elbit has recently seen growing demand from the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) for its “solutions,” according to a Dec. 18 press release. The company’s American subsidiary also offers products and services related to commercial aviation, homeland security monitoring and night vision technology.

The S.C. manufacturing facility stands at the end of Sightline Drive, a short road just off Ladson’s Palmetto Commerce Parkway. The building is buffered from the parkway by a line of trees, equipped with a traffic light. In other words, it doesn’t stand out as a defense manufacturing plant. And yet, Elbit’s Ground Combat Vehicle Assembly and Integration Center of Excellence is exactly what it sounds like — a plant that builds truck-mounted artillery systems and command post support vehicles.

Longtime Charlestonians might remember General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) — known before a buyout as Force Protection, Inc. — as a defense plant also in the Ladson-area industrial zone. The company, once a major Charleston manufacturer, supplied millions of dollars of contracted equipment to the U.S. Department of Defense and foreign armed forces, profiting from high demand for Iraq and Afghanistan war-era battlefield vehicles. GDLS spokesperson Robin Porter told the Charleston City Paper the plant was sold to Pegasus Steel, LLC., a company first established in South Africa in 1994.

Elbit America planned to invest approximately $31 million into its project, including construction costs, according to its Charleston County contract, which the City Paper obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Elbit’s facility uses 135,000 square feet of a 175,500-square-foot building. The remainder of the space is currently available for rent. The $31 million also accounted for machinery and site design, consisting of “36-foot cast-in-place, tilt walls … [and] 14 overhead cranes used to add armor to military vehicles,” wrote Choate Construction, the group contracted to build the plant.

Charleston County first became involved in Elbit’s relocation project in 2019, when it entered negotiations with Elbit under the company’s requested code name, “Project Thunder.” Code names are a common statewide practice of assigning a made-up project name to keep relocation deals anonymous. Charleston County Council described Project Thunder as a “leading global source of innovative, technology-based systems for diverse defense, homeland security, and commercial applications.” Elbit America would use this name to “begin its tax incentives process.”

In September 2021, the S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development authorized Charleston County to use a $700,000 set-aside grant to assist Elbit in business operations. The county and the state’s Department of Commerce also created an “attractive package” for the project. Incentives included a fee in lieu of tax credits, known as a “FILOT,” and Special Source Revenue Credit (SSRC), two tax-lowering incentives regularly applied to major businesses.

The Elbit site qualified for FILOT, which is available to companies that invest at least $2.5 million. The FILOT can save 40% or more in property taxes. FILOT savings are even greater when, as applies to Elbit, a business is designated inside an industrial park.

The SSRC incentive is taken from FILOT revenue: Counties “award credits to taxpayers to be applied against their property taxes.” Essentially, companies get more tax credits from the tax credits they already have. Dollars saved provide a competitive advantage to relocated businesses, but at a price. A 2019 fiscal year report disclosed that companies’ extra revenue diverted $423 million from public schools across the state, disproportionately low-income schools with mostly Black and brown students.

Elbit publicly announced its 135,000-square-foot Ladson site in November 2021. Project Thunder was not revealed as Elbit until a March 2022 “public hearing prior to final action.” This was several months after the county’s economic development director had committed to granting the subsidiary tax incentives.

In earlier council discussions, county officials projected that Project Thunder would bring 302 full-time jobs to the area “during annual operation,” but Elbit America Communications Specialist Amy Hartley told the City Paper on Dec. 6 that the site had only around 50 full-time workers.

Hartley declined a City Paper request to tour Elbit’s Ladson plant “given heightened security concerns.” In recent weeks, there have been pro-Palestine demonstrations outside some of its locations. A security guard, however, said the South Carolina plant hasn’t had any recent issues.

Another statement from Hartley explicitly mentioned the site’s contract with the U.S. Army to manufacture Command Post Integrated Infrastructure trucks, despite recent press releases indicating that its main operation was fulfilling contracts from the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) to build an automated vehicle mounted with an artillery system called a howitzer.

Elbit advertises the South Carolina-built howitzer vehicle as having “high firepower and long-range lethality.” The IDF reportedly has used the vehicle to launch white phosphorus artillery strikes in “densely populated areas of Gaza,” which Human Rights Watch says “violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.”

In March 2019, Elbit America received $125 million from IMOD to build “automatic self-propelled howitzer gun systems” for the IDF over a 12-year period, and the group secured a $200 million “further to” the 2019 contract one year later. In November 2023, Elbit announced that it was increasing deliveries to IMOD from various sites, including U.S. subsidiaries, to support the IDF’s invasion of Gaza.

That same month, a United States Field Artillery Association news release reported that, while the Ladson site is continuing production and delivery of U.S. Army vehicles, “Elbit America has recently started production of the Sigma-Next Generation Howitzer at their Charleston, South Carolina facility and will begin deliveries to the Israeli Defense Force in 2025.”

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LADSON, S.C. (WCSC) - Representatives of the Coastal Carolina Fair are voicing their concerns about Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority’s plans to build a park-and-ride facility at the fairgrounds.

This park-and-ride facility is a part of CARTA’s Lowcountry Rapid Transit Plan – the first-ever large-scale transportation project in the region.

CARTA Chairman Mike Seekings, says this $600 million plan is the result of over a decade of regional planning.

“Large-scale transit projects are a function on the front end of planning - a lot of planning - identifying the needs of a community, and seeing how we can meet those needs by planning out the alignment, finding the funding, and we’ve done all those things. So, we’re a good ways down the road right now,” Seekings says.

If plans go through, the facility will take up about six acres of the 180 acres available for parking on the fairgrounds. Mike Jernigan, a member of the Exchange Board as well as the former president of the Coastal Carolina Fair, says that their initial discussions with CARTA were about leasing an acre to an acre and a half of land for a bus stop, but he said that CARTA wanted more land to either purchase or take by eminent domain.

Seekings is surprised by this response. He says that they spoke with the leadership of the fairgrounds early in the process and have had conversations over many years about this area of land.

Officials with the Coastal Carolina Fair say that their issue is not the size of the facility, though, but the location. The park-and-ride facility would be located in lot 2A of the fairgrounds which is adjacent to Highway 78 and Gate 2 – one of the major entrances of the fairgrounds.

“We feel like supporting public transportation is a good thing. We’re not opposed to that in any way,” Jernigan says. We just feel like this location is the wrong location. That there are other options that are available adjacent to our property, or even at a different place on our property, but not to take our prime parking spot.”

Seekings says that throughout the conversations over the years, they have changed the intended location of this facility twice, and lot 2A was what was agreed upon.

“We’ve identified, through cooperative meetings with the Exchange Club, a number of different spaces. This last one we actually had a public hearing over at their request in August,” Seekings says. “So, we’re a long way down the road. It’s not signed, sealed and delivered, but it’s unlikely that we’re going to change the routing and change the manner in which we’ve gone through a long planning process. And now, at the eleventh hour, we’re ready, we’re ready to go implement this project - cooperatively, fairly to the benefit of all citizens in the region, including but not limited to those who are aligned with the Exchange Club and those who like to go to the fair.”

Jernigan disagrees. He says that they believe the location of the facility would disrupt patrons’ ability to enter and exit the fair, hurt fair revenue generation and impact the future success of the fair as well as their ability to support their community partners.

“This lot that would be affected by this potential park-and-ride disrupts our ability to park people efficiently. It would eliminate our ability to use one of our primary gates, and we feel like the effect of that on our parking means that we have less revenue and then less money to give away to the charities that depend on the profits from the fair,” Jernigan says.

The Coastal Carolina Fair supports about 70 different nonprofit organizations and charities in the area. CARTA and the fair representatives are not seeing eye-to-eye on this park-and-ride project. Seekings said they believe this project will actually have the opposite effect and be beneficial to the fair.

“Having access to the fair from public transit brings more people to the gate, enhances gate revenue, makes it more convenient, gives you many more local connections,” Seekings says. “It will be a very cooperative and beneficial experience for both sides of this and for the region.”

Jernigan says they just want to have more conversations about these plans and alternative solutions.

“We feel like there’s too much at stake here for the community, the charities we support and the long-term future of the fair to not have more discussion about other options which we feel like are available to CARTA in this general area - but you know, potentially even on the backside of the fair property - that need to be given consideration,” Jernigan says.

Jernigan says that even though the land is privately owned, the decision is ultimately not up to him, though, it is up to government officials.

Seekings says they want to make the plan work for everyone and enhance the experience for the community, but that it is unlikely much will change now that they are this far along. He says they want to implement this plan cooperatively and fairly and he believes there is some misunderstanding here. He says that this project is world-class public transit that works for everyone.

If plans go through, construction is slated to begin in 2026 and be completed by 2029.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Facility will insource production of key security products and bring new jobs to the region

(RESTON, Va.) July 6, 2023 – Leidos (NYSE:LDOS), a FORTUNE^® 500 science and technology leader, today announced plans to establish a new security systems manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina. This will be the company’s third security systems manufacturing location in the U.S., expanding its presence and support to customers. Leidos will invest $31.7 million in the new facility, creating up to 170 new jobs in the region over time.

“This facility brings more manufacturing back into the U.S. and expands Leidos’ global security capabilities for the aviation and critical infrastructure markets,” said Jim Moos, Leidos Civil Group president. “We’re thrilled to expand into the North Charleston area and look forward to making a positive impact in the community.”

The new facility will produce security systems for Leidos’ Security Enterprise Solutions (SES) operation. SES offers a comprehensive suite of fully automated and integrated products for aviation, shipping ports, border crossings and critical infrastructure customers. These systems provide threat detection by screening baggage, cargo and people at checkpoints around the world.

“Leidos’ $31.7 million investment in their new facility here in the Lowcountry will lead to significant job growth and economic development,” said Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC-1). “We congratulate them on their expanding operation and thank them for putting their faith in South Carolina.”

Located in Ladson Industrial Park, the new 150,000-square-foot facility will enable Leidos to onshore more manufacturing increasing the company’s critical capacity to support its growing customer base. The new plant will optimize manufacturing efficiency, quality and safety through application of best-in-class manufacturing processes. The facility is currently under construction and is expected to be fully operational by the first half of 2024.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500^® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company’s 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.leidos.com.

Certain statements in this announcement constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These statements are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the “Risk Factors” set forth in Leidos’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Leidos does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.