SwRI Staff Engineer Yvette Tyler integrates electronics for the MASPEX instrument, which will sample gases in Europa’s atmosphere and possible plumes of materials escaping from surface cracks to determine the chemistry of the moon’s surface and suspected internal ocean.

The Southwest Research Institute is growing again, this time in Warner Robins, Georgia.

The 76-year-old research hub headquartered on San Antonio’s West Side has acquired more than 8 acres about three miles from Robins Air Force Base where it's planning to build an $18.5 million, 33,000 square-foot-facility to support national defense with intelligence research and development.

SwRI officials broke ground on the project Wednesday. According to a statement, more than 50 SwRI staffers and consultants will work at the new facility, a single-story office building with labs for developing “advanced aerospace and defense technology.”

Construction is expected to be completed by mid-2025.

“We currently manage some of our government projects off-site at Robins Air Force Base,” said Winfield Greene, director of SwRI’s Advanced Electronic Warfare Department in a statement. “The new facility will allow us to handle this type of work in our own space to expand our support of the United States Air Force.”

Most SwRI staffers at Warner Robins are developing electronic warfare technology including “countermeasure systems to protect aircraft from enemy weapons fire.” They currently work in a leased 15,000-square-foot building.

“The new facility will continue the Warner Robins office’s mission … by adding laboratory and meeting spaces as well as the capability to test equipment that, right now, we can only test on-base,” said Nils Smith, vice president in SwRI's Defense and Intelligence Solutions Division. “The facility will also have more conference space and areas for future development as our work for the military in Warner Robins grows.”

SwRI has operated in Warner Robins for more than three decades. The Georgia site will be among SwRI’s 10 U.S. locations outside of San Antonio. Others are in Boulder, Colorado; Hanover, Maryland; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Minneapolis; Durham, New Hampshire; Beavercreek, Ohio; Midwest City, Oklahoma; Austin and at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

It has international locations in Beijing and the United Kingdom.

The institute typically leases office and lab space at its locations outside San Antonio. But it said the Georgia project is the first time it has purchased land and built its own facilities.

“Purchasing property and building was the best solution to meet client needs in Warner Robins,” the statement said.

About two weeks ago, SwRI said it's also building a $27 million facility at its West Side campus. The 36,600-square-foot concrete building will house the Center for Accelerated Materials and Processes, providing additional workspace for SwRI’s mechanical engineering division. The division supports government and industry work in engineering dynamics, fluids engineering, machinery, materials and structural engineering.

The growth comes after SwRI posted record revenue of $844 million in 2023, up nearly 6% from its previous record.