Imagine waking up in Northampton, a city known for art, education, and progressive values — only to realize it’s considered a high-priority nuclear target. This isn’t alarmism. It’s reality. Near downtown, L3Harris Technologies develops critical components for the world’s deadliest nuclear weapons system. If war breaks out, this small Massachusetts city could be among the first to disappear — not because of who we are, but because of what’s built here.
L3Harris’s local presence began as Kollmorgen, a Northampton optics company founded in 1916 that built submarine periscopes for decades. In 2012, it was acquired by L3 Communications, which later merged with Harris Corporation to become L3Harris Technologies — the sixth-largest defense contractor in the U.S.
Today, the Northampton facility designs and builds photonic masts and advanced sensors for the Navy’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. These are not old-fashioned periscopes; they are high-tech surveillance systems with electro-optical and infrared imaging, laser range-finding, and advanced targeting capabilities. They are essential to the functionality of Ohio-class SSBNs, which can launch up to 24 Trident II D5 nuclear missiles, each carrying multiple independently targetable warheads.
These submarines are the most lethal leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, which includes land-based ICBMs and air-delivered bombs. At any moment, 9 to 12 of these subs are deployed worldwide, capable of ending life on Earth.
Each Trident II missile can carry up to eight warheads under current arms control treaties. Some have yields as high as 475 kilotons — more than 30 times the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The full fleet of 14 Ohio-class SSBNs can carry a total destructive capacity equivalent to 85,000 Hiroshima bombs. L3Harris technologies are critical to ensuring these submarines are stealthy, accurate, and survivable.
Now, the Navy is transitioning to the Columbia-class SSBNs, a $347 billion program. These new submarines will be even more advanced and harder to detect. At the heart of this upgrade? The Type 20 photonic mast developed right here in Northampton. In this case L3Harris technologies play a far more significant role in this new fleet than it did in the case of the Ohio-class.
It’s worth noting that SSBNs aren’t considered “submarines” in the traditional sense. Attack submarines carry out surveillance, intelligence gathering, anti-submarine warfare, and special operations. SSBNs are stealth nuclear launch platforms — purely and exclusively.
It is also important to be clear that this facility does not simply make radios or general navigation systems. It manufactures and integrates sensors into the operational nerve center of nuclear-armed submarines. And it’s the only known U.S. site that builds and repairs these systems. That makes Northampton a unique and legitimate counterforce nuclear target.
Military planners distinguish between countervalue and counterforce nuclear targets. Countervalue refers to civilian populations, which are protected under international law. Counterforce targets are military facilities, especially those connected to nuclear weapons. L3Harris Northampton is clearly a counterforce target.
If nuclear war breaks out, our city could be struck in the opening minutes. No sirens. No time to evacuate. No fallout shelters. A few years ago, I tested FEMA’s shelter locator by texting “SHELTER” and our zip code (01060) to 43362. The response? “No shelters within 200 miles.” I tried New York City. Same result. There is no plan.
Some defend L3Harris’s presence by citing jobs and tax revenue. But in FY25, Northampton received just $283,940 in real estate taxes from the facility — revenue based on property value, not the nature of the work. The same could come from clean tech, biotech, or any number of non-lethal industries. L3Harris is neither a major employer nor a philanthropic presence. We gain very little, and risk everything.
If a business model virtually guarantees the death of our children in the event of nuclear war, why should it be allowed in our community?
Some argue that defense work is necessary for national security. That’s a fair debate. But L3Harris doesn’t just support defense. It enables a nuclear system designed for both first-strike and second-strike capability. This isn’t about protection — it’s about total annihilation.
If L3Harris left Northampton, the nearest counterforce target would shift to Barnes Air National Guard Base, 15 miles away, on the other side of a mountain range since Barnes is set to receive nuclear-capable F-35A Lightning ll fighter jets next year, ensuring the likelihood of a nuclear strike on Barnes in a nuclear war. These F-35s are the only nuclear capable versions of the aircraft and are configured to carry the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb. This is quite close to Northampton, but it’s far safer than hosting a nuclear weapons systems research, manufacturing and integration site in our downtown.
That all said, it is important to state that this is not a political issue. It’s not about left, center or right. It’s about life and death. It’s about whether we want to leave our children and grandchildren a city that is safe and survivable, or one marked for destruction.
L3Harris must go. We can and must build a future that does not depend on the machinery of mass extinction. The risks are too great, and the time is now.
Let this be the issue that unites us. Not as Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Greens, Socialists or Libertarians, but as parents, grandparents, neighbors, and citizens. The survival of our community is not negotiable.
Matthew Hoey has worked for 20-plus years in international security, defense innovation and dual-use technologies. His work has been featured by the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and the New York Times. He lives in Northampton with his wife and daughter.