ACMI Announces 16 Companies to Operate at Munitions Campus, Catalyzing A New 1,100-Acre National Security Industrial Hub

The project is the largest aerospace and defense development in Indiana and is expected to stimulate $600 million in private investment, an 8X multiplier on federal funding

/EIN News/ -- BLOOMFIELD, Ind., April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI) today announced the initial cohort of 16 companies for their Munitions Campus. These companies represent a wide range of advanced capabilities and specialties with defense applications including aerospace engineering, materials science, propellants, energetics, advanced manufacturing, uncrewed systems, artificial intelligence, and logistics. The following companies have executed agreements to operate at the campus:

• Alaris
• Athena
• Canopy Aerospace
• Deterrence
• Elementum 3D
• Exos Aerospace
• Freemelt
• Hybron
• Kratos
• Prometheus
• Raven
• RMSL
• Spinner
• Supernova
• Sustainment
• Voyager Technologies

Munitions Campus is being built on a portion of ACMI’s National Security Industrial Hub (NSIH), a new 1,141-acre development adjacent to Crane Army Ammunition Activity and Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane (“Crane”) in Bloomfield, Indiana. Prometheus’s, a U.S.-based merchant supplier of solid rocket motors, will be building their headquarters and solid rocket motor production facility on 550 acres of the site. The construction and operation of the NSIH is expected to create thousands of high-quality private-sector jobs.

“It’s exciting to see so many companies working on different parts of the defense industrial base investing in one location,” said John Burer, Founder and CEO of ACMI. “By bringing this range of capabilities and specialties together we are enabling a more resilient, efficient, and innovative industrial base that benefits both the defense and commercial sectors. The success of this approach, leveraging private capital to develop facilities critical to the defense industrial base, signals a new era for rebuilding America’s manufacturing capabilities.”

The $75 million Munitions Campus Program was awarded to ACMI by the Department of Defense to strengthen the munitions supply chain by stimulating private capital for shared-use facilities to scale up domestic munitions production capabilities and capacity. This initial Munitions Campus award catalyzed the creation of the NSIH, which will stimulate an estimated $600 million in private investment—multiplying the impact of the committed government funding by 8X. This announcement marks a critical milestone in fulfilling the strategic vision of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience (ODASD(IBR)) via its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) Directorate, which oversees the DOD’s Munitions Campus.

“These innovative companies help enable DOD’s efforts to modernize our military and the defense industrial base while increasing resilience and ensuring deterrence,” said Dr. Christine Michienzi, former Senior Technology Advisor for the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. “Through this pioneering engagement between the government and commercial industry, ACMI is bringing the best of private sector innovation to every branch of the U.S. military, ensuring that we put the best possible equipment in the hands of our warfighters.”

Munitions Campus is purpose-built to lower barriers to entry for emerging defense firms and drive efficiencies in the subcomponent supply chain to support advanced manufacturing techniques, energetic materials, munitions, and hardware with defense applications. ACMI will deploy funding from the program to build common infrastructure as well as shared access facilities to support the rapid transition of new technologies from advanced R&D to scaled production.

“Having an advanced ecosystem of private companies just minutes away will be a major complement to the broad spectrum of advanced capabilities available at Crane,” said Anthony Fabrizio, Deputy Commander, Crane Army Ammunition Activity. “This groundbreaking innovation ecosystem will catalyze R&D and production, allowing us to rapidly scale proven munitions and new technology alike, at the speed of relevance.”

Strategically located next to Crane, one of the largest naval installations in the world, the campus facilitates collaboration among private and government defense entities to ensure efficient production and distribution of munitions. Crane Army and ACMI Federal signed a memorandum of understanding in 2024 to enhance cooperation between government agencies, researchers, and private industry to address these critical national security challenges.

ACMI has selected Johns Hopkins University - Whiting School of Engineering to provide overarching safety support for the Munitions Campus Program at the National Security Industrial Hub. "Safety is of paramount importance in a project of this nature,” said Pete Zeender, Executive Director of the Energetics Research Group. "Our decades of experience and access to experts in different disciplines gives us the unique ability to support an effort at this scale and complexity. Munitions Campus will incorporate state-of-the-art performers, and we will ensure shared services are designed and built with world-class safety from the blueprints up."

Design and construction activities are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025 with the facility opening in phases beginning in 2027.

About the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI)
ACMI is committed to revitalizing the United States’ industrial base through strategic investments in emerging businesses in critical sectors. ACMI’s approach, through its affiliates ACMI Federal, ACMI Capital, and ACMI Properties, aims to consolidate funding, resources, and expertise to close gaps in the US industrial base, enhance supply chain resiliency, and accelerate innovation. Learn more: www.ACMIGroup.com

About Crane Army Ammunition Activity (CAAA)
CAAA's mission is to safely receive, inspect, store, ship, renovate, demilitarize, and manufacture conventional ammunition, missiles, and related components to support Army and Joint Force readiness. Crane Army Ammunition Activity produces and provides conventional munitions in support of U.S. Army and Joint Force readiness. It is part of the Joint Munitions Command and the U.S. Army Materiel Command, which include arsenals, depots, activities and ammunition plants. Established Oct. 1977, it is located on Naval Support Activity Crane. Learn more at https://www.crane.army.mil/

About the Johns Hopkins University - Whiting School of Engineering
The Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering transforms society through innovative engineering education at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Johns Hopkins Engineering was founded in 1913 and has an acclaimed history of leading advances in engineering education and research. Their nine academic departments offer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of relevant minors, including entrepreneurship and robotics. Our programs are led by exceptional scholars, researchers, scientists, and engineers. Learn more at https://engineering.jhu.edu/

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