Alabama's economy has transitioned from agriculture and heavy industry to a diversified landscape dominated by aerospace, automotive manufacturing, bioscience, and technology.
* **Aerospace & Defense:** Huntsville is a national hub for aerospace, home to the **Redstone Arsenal**, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and operations for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and numerous defense contractors. * **Automotive Manufacturing:** The state is a major vehicle producer, hosting assembly plants for **Mercedes-Benz** (Vance), **Honda** (Lincoln), **Hyundai** (Montgomery), and a joint **Mazda Toyota** facility (Huntsville). * **Maritime & Logistics:** The **Port of Mobile** is one of the busiest deep-water ports in the US. Mobile is also home to **Austal USA**, a major shipbuilder for the US Navy. * **Research & Technology:** The **Cummings Research Park** in Huntsville is the second-largest research park in the country.