Fresh on the heels of Veterans Day, a major announcement concerning national security.

For the first time in decades, TNT will be produced on American soil.

And it's going to happen right here in Kentucky.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to Milling Bird County, where U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell made the announcement.

It's a lot cheaper to rent or than it is to have one, a lot safer to prevent war than to have one.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other officials making a big announcement at VFW post 5478 in Greenville.

I cannot overstate the significance of this facility.

We've been actually at the mercy of other countries for this product that's going to be built here.

That product is TNT, an explosive used in military artillery that will soon be produced in Muhlenberg County.

Our role in the defense sector is a point of pride for the company, as we are proud to help our nation service members be the best prepared, best equipped and strongest fighting force on the planet.

The U.S. Army partnered with Recon USA, awarding them a $435 million contract to build the facility.

This TNT facility is going to take advantage of state of the art automation and a novel waste neutralization process to make it one of the most high tech, safe and environmentally friendly TNT plants ever constructed.

America won World War Two with brave men and women fighting, but a big part of is because we get out, produce the rest of the world industrially.

And so that's the lesson we learned.

Saying it is also revitalizing American industry.

Congressman Brett Guthrie, himself a former field artillery officer, joining McConnell and expressing his staunch support for U.S. aid to Ukraine.

We have to defeat Putin in Ukraine or he's going to come in the rest of Europe, or at least he says he's going do.

And I'm not willing to take that bet that he's lying.

And so defeating him in Ukraine is important.

I don't think we can allow the Russians to win that war.

And it's important to remember, we don't have any personnel there.

We're just helping these people fight for their independence against one of our biggest adversaries.

I don't think it should even be controversial.

McConnell says this announcement illustrates how most of the money allocated to Ukraine's defense is being spent here and the United States.

We're here today to celebrate an example of what increased defense spending means jobs in this country and in particular in this county.

Those new jobs, about 50 of them, are welcome news to a county once heavily dependent on coal.

You know, when I went to the Senate, I still had the paradise plant, still had coal.

Clearly, that's heading in the wrong direction from our point of view.

So this is a breath of fresh air for real Burke County and an opportunity to be involved in something that's extremely important for our nation.

McConnell says this is a time of, quote, extreme difficulty comparing it to the period before World War Two.

We're up against a network, an actual network of authoritarian regimes.

We need to build up our defense industrial complex and spend more in order to avoid having to spend even more in a conflict.

As Reagan said, you get peace through strength.

The U.S. Army says having a domestic source of TNT will ensure our armed forces have timely access to essential resources.

It is not lost on us that victory on the battlefield begins in our production facilities, much like the one that we built just down the road from here.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

The Return.

Thank you, Laura.

The first batches of TNT are expected in 36 months, which is considered a quick timeline for these projects.

The facility will be built in Greenville's neighboring community of Graham, Kentucky.