Dayton T. Brown Opens Huntsville Test and Qualification Center, With EMI Testing Planned

Dayton T. Brown, Inc. (DTB) has opened a 104,000-square-foot Test & Qualification Center in the Huntsville, Alabama area, holding a ribbon-cutting on October 22, 2026. The site is at 7401 Pulaski Pike in Toney, near Redstone Arsenal and the region’s aerospace and defense community.

The facility’s initial focus is large-scale solid rocket motor testing, including proof, burst, X-ray and structural testing during development, qualification and production. DTB, which is headquartered in Bohemia, New York, says it will add environmental and electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing as customer needs evolve. The company has not announced equipment, standards or accreditations for the site. It was built modularly, and DTB describes a three-phase development plan with a second building planned behind the first.

L3Harris is the anchor customer, and the initial work supports its Golden Dome requirements. Before the Huntsville site opened, L3Harris had to ship products to DTB’s New York facility for testing. DTB also recently won a place on the Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD contract.

“If testing can’t keep up pace with production, it creates bottlenecks,” said Jim Kelly, DTB’s president. Kevin McCombs, vice president and general manager of Strategic Systems at L3Harris, said the local site “will save time and help prevent damage to the product.”

The center is on a 10-year lease. DTB has not disclosed the investment amount or the number of jobs. The company says it has served customers for more than 75 years across testing, engineering, logistics and military mission systems.