(Bloomberg) – The Pentagon hopes to expand the U.S. defense industry base and focus on new hubs for key projects such as key items such as ammunition and solid rocket motors.
ACMI, an investment company that focuses on key sectors of domestic industrial bases, said it has reached a deal with 16 companies to occupy its new ammunition campus, which will be built on the grounds of the company’s National Security Industrial Hub in Bloomfield, Indiana. Design and construction work is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2025, with the campus opening from 2027.
John Burer, the center’s founder and CEO, told Bloomberg News in an interview that private investment in the project is expected to be around $600 million.
The campus is adjacent to two U.S. military sites, the Naval Ground Warfare Center – Department of Cranes and Cranes Army Ammunition Activities, and has been backed by $75 million in U.S. Defense Production Law Funding for five years.
Federal funds are allocated between $50 million from the ACMI federal government to provide “will help reduce the operating costs of campus-based companies and provide $25 million in prototype funds that will go to tenants on campus to help them launch some of these programs, which they will then expand on campus.”
As the Pentagon is working to replenish U.S. stocks and prepare for potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific, Baylor said ammunition campuses and others like it could help boost domestic production and provide surges in production when needed.
As part of the pilot program, ACMI won the Pentagon funding in 2023, which aims to support our startups and streamline the path to working with the government.
According to the developer, tenants will include Alaris Defensing, Athena AI, Canopy Aerospace, Deterrence, Ementum 3D, Exos Aerospace, Freemelt, Hybron, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. technology. Prometheus will build its headquarters and rugged rocket engine production facility on 550 acres (2.2 square kilometers) packages on the site.
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