Indra Group’s 118,000-square-foot radar manufacturing facility is making headway in Olathe, and one U.S. Senator recently stopped by to check on progress.

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall visited Olathe last week to tour the Indra Group‘s facility currently getting its final touches at the Great Plains Commerce Center.

Marshall and Indra Air Traffic USA CEO Bill Colligan discussed plans for how the site, which is being prepped for operation, will support Federal Aviation Administration initiatives across the country.

According to company officials, the facility, located at 159th Street and Lone Elm Road, will manufacture radios used by air traffic controllers to communicate with pilots, surveillance-broadcast systems used to track aircrafts and radar equipment used at airports across the country.

Marshall discussed the federal government’s ongoing effort to modernize the National Airspace System.

“Our nation, unfortunately, is decades behind on technology for our airports,” Marshall said. “The government has made a multi-billion dollar commitment to go across every airport and modernize those.”

Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration awarded Spanish company Indra Group a $342 million contract to manufacture “next-generation” air traffic surveillance radars.

Colligan said the facility is expected to employ 300 workers by the end of this year.

“We’re building critical infrastructure, ground-based infrastructure, to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system,” Colligan said.

Indra celebrated the grand opening of the manufacturing center in April and announced plans to invest $50 million in the project.

The company currently designs, engineers, manufactures and assembles air traffic management systems at its 40,000 square-foot facility in Overland Park.

Years in the making

The manufacturing center is just one piece of Indra’s growing presence in Olathe.

In March, Gov. Laura Kelly announced that Indra Group chose Olathe as the site for a separate manufacturing operation and that it planned to invest $7.5 million in a 25,000-square-foot facility.

The two facilities will both be at the Great Plains Commerce Center.

Local officials said they worked on securing a partnership with Indra for years. Kansas Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland visited Indra Group’s headquarters in Madrid in November 2024.

Other leaders including U.S. Representatives Sharice Davids and Ron Estes and State Representative Susan Estes visited in June 2025.

Kelly also met with company executives and toured one of the company’s other radar production facilities in Spain in October 2025.

During his visit last week, Marshall highlighted the new jobs Indra has created.

“We’re not gonna make T-shirts in Kansas anymore,” Marshall said. “But what we’re gonna do is do this advanced manufacturing where it takes a little higher skill set, a little better education.”

Olathe Mayor John Bacon said the city is trying to attract advanced manufacturing employers.

“People have complained, ‘Oh, we don’t need more warehouses in Olathe,'” Bacon said. “But 40% of them are manufacturing.”

The city has facilities that are available and able to be retrofitted for the manufacturer’s needs, Bacon said.