DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 29, 2026--
Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) broke ground on a major expansion of the Voyager American Defense Complex in Pueblo, Colorado, advancing the Pentagon’s urgent call for industry to accelerate domestic missile defense and tactical munitions orders.
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“The groundbreaking of the Voyager American Defense Complex proves that Colorado is building an epicenter for defense,” said Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo). “Voyager’s investment in our state will help defense readiness capabilities, bring advanced manufacturing, and establish long-term growth in Colorado’s aerospace industry. Thank you to Voyager for their partnership with Colorado, and I look forward to seeing all the work they accomplish.”
In 2013, Pueblo Army Depot was declared surplus federal property. It is managed by PuebloPlex, formerly Pueblo Depot Activity Development Authority, to redevelop the property, support job creation and enhance the tax base.
“This groundbreaking represents one of the largest defense investments in southern Colorado in over a decade,” said Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo). “Voyager is bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs to Pueblo and strengthening America’s defense industrial base in Colorado’s Third Congressional District. When we can produce the systems our military needs domestically, we're not just creating jobs – we're ensuring our armed forces have what they need, when they need it. I'm proud to see this investment in our community and grateful to Voyager for choosing Pueblo."
The Voyager American Defense Complex will be 150,000 sq feet for advanced manufacturing, operations and testing on PuebloPlex’s 16,000 acres and over 1,000 Earth-covered magazines. It is designed to support high-volume production of weapon systems-enabling components, propulsion systems and assembled energetic grains used across the U.S. military, as well as Voyager’s proprietary controllable propulsion technologies. It can also house critical chemical and black powder development, which have received more than $39 million in federal funding to re-onshore these resources to the United States.
“We are building the capacity the Pentagon is counting on to achieve President Trump’s peace through strength mandate,” said Matt Kuta, co-founder and president, Voyager. “As global threats increase and the Department of War accelerates missile-defense and tactical-munitions orders, Voyager is expanding the U.S. industrial base with the capacity, scale and speed needed to meet national-security demand.”
The complex will deepen the integration of design for manufacturing, assembly and test, uniting design telemetry with AI-enabled supply chain management to cut lead times and accelerate delivery. With advanced robotics and highly automated manufacturing, capabilities uncommon in energetics, Voyager will accelerate clean-sheet design through live testing with up to 90% greater efficiency, enabling high-rate, safer and more scalable output.
Construction is being led by H.E. Whitlock, a Pueblo-based contractor founded in 1892, supporting more than 75 employees of local trades and subcontractors. The project strengthens the region’s role as a critical pillar of the U.S. munitions and energetics supply chain.
About Voyager Technologies
Voyager Technologies is a defense and space technology company committed to advancing and delivering transformative, mission-critical solutions. By tackling the most complex challenges, Voyager aims to unlock new frontiers for human progress, fortify national security, and protect critical assets from ground to space. For more information visit: voyagertechnologies.com and follow on LinkedIn and X.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements - Voyager:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager Space, Inc.’s (the “Company’s”) mission statement and growth strategy, are “forward-looking statements.” Although the Company’s management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company’s future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company’s control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company’s current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
The Voyager American Defense Complex advances the Pentagon’s urgent call for industry to accelerate domestic missile defense and tactical munitions orders.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, a Black woman who had dialed 911 to report a possible prowler outside her Springfield home.
Sean Grayson, who is white, was convicted in October of second-degree murder in a police brutality case that prompted protests over systemic racism and led to a U.S. Department of Justice inquiry. Grayson, 31, testified at trial that he feared Massey was about scald him with a pot of steaming hot water that she had removed from the stove.
Grayson, who has been incarcerated since he was charged, received the maximum possible sentence.
He apologized in court, saying he wished he could bring Massey back and spare her family the pain he caused. His attorney sought a sentence of six years, noting that Grayson has late stage colon cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs.
“I made a lot of mistakes that night. There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t. I froze,” Grayson said. “I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry.”
Massey's parents and two teenage children, who lobbied for the maximum sentence, said their lives had changed dramatically since her death. Her children said they had to grow up without a mother, while Massey's mother said she lived in fear.
“I cry every day," Massey's mother, Donna Massey, said.
“I’m afraid to call the police in fear that I might end up like Sonya,” she told the court.
State’s Attorney John Milhiser argued that Massey would still be alive if someone else from the sheriff's department had responded to her 911 call.
“Sonya Massey’s death rocked her family, but it rocked the community, it rocked the country,” State’s Attorney John Milhiser said. “We have to do whatever we can to ensure it never happens again.”
The family reacted with a loud cheer — "Yes!” — after Judge Ryan Cadigan read the sentence. He admonished them for the outburst.
“Twenty years is not enough, but they did what they could do,” Massey's 16-year-old daughter Summer told reporters after the hearing.
With a day shaved off his sentence for every day of good behavior, plus credit for nearly 19 months already spent behind bars, Grayson could be released in just under 8 1/2 years.
In the early morning hours of July 6, 2024, Massey — a 36-year-old single mother who struggled with mental health issues — summoned emergency responders because she feared there was a prowler outside her Springfield home.
According to body camera footage, Grayson and sheriff’s Deputy Dawson Farley, who was not charged, searched outside Massey's home before meeting her at her door. Massey appeared confused and repeatedly said, “Please, God.”
The deputies entered her house, Grayson noticed the pot on the stove and ordered Farley to move it. Instead, Massey went to the stove, retrieved the pot and teased Grayson for moving away from “the hot, steaming water.”
From this moment, the exchange quickly escalated.
Massey said: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson drew his sidearm and yelled at her to drop the pan. She set the pot down and ducked behind a counter. But she appeared to pick it up again.
That's when Grayson opened fire, shooting Massey in the face.
Grayson was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, which could have led to a life sentence, but a jury convicted him of the lesser charge. Illinois allows for a second-degree murder conviction if evidence shows the defendant honestly thought he was in danger, even if that fear was unreasonable.
Massey's family was outraged by the verdict.
“The justice system did exactly what it’s designed to do today. It’s not meant for us,” her cousin Sontae Massey said after the verdict.
On Thursday, the same cousin said he was “thankful." He said there is “a long way to go” to eliminate the environment that "perpetuated, created this situation. We have to work on these outdated laws. We have to get them off the books.”
Grayson told the court he understood the Massey family's anger and begged for their forgiveness while acknowledging that wouldn't come “any time soon.”
James Wilburn, who ended his statement to the court by quoting his daughter — “Sean Grayson, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” — said later Thursday he understands the value of forgiveness, but that he cannot reconcile Grayson's apology with his claim at trial that his daughter was the aggressor.
Massey’s killing raised new questions about U.S. law enforcement shootings of Black people in their homes. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump negotiated a $10 million settlement with Sangamon County for Massey's relatives.
The case also generated a U.S. Justice Department inquiry that was settled when the county agreed to implement more de-escalation training and collect more use-of-force data. The sheriff who hired Grayson was forced to retire and the case prompted a change in Illinois law requiring fuller transparency on the backgrounds of candidates for law enforcement jobs. Wilburn said that law should be implemented at the federal level.
Associated Press reporter Sophia Tareen contributed from Chicago.
James Wilburn, father of Sonya Massey, reacts in Springfield, Ill., on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, to the 20-year sentence given to former Illinois sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson for the July 6, 2024 shooting of Massey in her home in Springfield. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)
Donna Massey, mother of Sonya Massey, reacts in Springfield, Ill., on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, to the 20-year sentence given to former Illinois sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson for the July 6, 2024 shooting of Sonya in her home in Springfield. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)
FILE - In this image taken from body camera video released by Illinois State Police on Monday, July 22, 2024, former Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson, left, points his gun at Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help, before shooting and killing her inside her home in Springfield, Ill., July 6, 2024. (Illinois State Police via AP, File)
FILE - This booking photo provided by the Macon County, Ill., Jail in January 2025, shows Sean Grayson, a former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Sonya Massey on July 6, 2024, in Springfield, Ill. (Macon County Jail via AP, File)
FILE - Donna Massey, center right, wipes tears from her face as she listens to Rev. Al Sharpton, right, speak during a press conference over the shooting death of her daughter, Sonya, who was killed by Illinois sheriff's deputy Sean Grayson, at New Mount Pilgrim Church in Chicago, July 30, 2024. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)
