Southern Indiana Business Report
The American Center for Manufacturing & Innovation, based in Austin, Texas, announced plans to construct a munitions campus in Indiana. The project, a private-public partnership leveraging the Department of Defense (DOD)’s $75 million Munitions Campus program award to ACMI Federal and an estimated $300 million of private capital for developing infrastructure, is an industrial real estate development to support scaling and innovation in munitions-related areas.
The Munitions Campus program was established through the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience (IBR) through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) Directorate.
ACMI Properties will construct the facilities in a hub and spoke configuration, with a R&D-oriented campus located near Indianapolis and other sites under consideration, including some adjacent to Crane Army Ammunition Activity and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane).
“This program is an important pathfinder effort to develop a new public-private partnership model, stimulating private investment even in a market such as munitions, where DOD has traditionally shouldered nearly the entire cost burden,” said Anthony Di Stasio, MCEIP director. “This approach will stretch the taxpayer dollar much further, enabling us to accelerate growth of the domestic industrial base, maintaining America’s technological and industrial edge.”
“ACMI is proud to be leading this important project to support innovation, scaling production and the unique needs of this supply chain,” said John Burer, founder of ACMI. “This is a first-of-its-kind project that is expected to attract thousands of jobs and bring billions in economic development to the State of Indiana.”
“Crane Army and NSWC Crane are the ideal partners to take on this important project,” said Pam Clark, ecosystem manager for ACMI and former U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Division Chief. “The longstanding relationship we will build with Crane was a key factor in selecting Indiana for the munition campus investment. The partnership is testament to the commitment to deliver technology that is critical for our defense and national security.”
“ACMI will develop a series of buildings designed to support the unique needs of campus tenants,” said Simon Shewmaker, head of development for ACMI Properties. “Tenants focused on R&D and prototyping will naturally align with facilities near Indianapolis while facilities near Crane will focus on scaled production, creating a pathway to develop and deploy new technologies in the market.”
The Purdue Energetic Research Center (PERC), one of the nation’s leading academic organizations in comprehensive energetics materials research, will lend research expertise to the project.
“We need to modernize how we make energetics,” said Steve Beaudoin, director of the Purdue Energetics Research Center (PERC). “We need to get to profitable, sustainable, and responsive domestic manufacturing of these materials. This initiative supports both developing a more resilient supply chain and bringing the ability to manufacture energetics back to our shores. PERC is pleased to support this important effort.”
Support for scaling production and the munitions supply chain was a key objective for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, MCEIP Directorate. Leveraging private capital to develop platforms supporting cross-Services priorities is a novel approach to supporting DOD needs and may be applied to other targeted areas.
“Crane Army is eager to work with industry partners who can complement our ability to provide munitions to the warfighter,” said Anthony Fabrizio, deputy commander of Crane Army Ammunition Activity. “The Army recognizes the need to modernize, and the Munitions Campus has the potential to help us bridge that gap.”
ACMI Properties is focused on developing industry-centered campuses to address the infrastructure gap for companies between startup ideation and scaling phases. These next-generation industry campuses are designed to scale manufacturing capacity. They will also create dynamic spaces for innovation and growth focused on critical industry sectors that are important for national security and economic development.
“It is exciting to see these campuses come to Indiana,” said Jenna Dix, director of engagement at NSWC Crane. “This innovation environment for industry can help to revolutionize the production of energetics, reducing the time it takes to have these technologies ready for DOD use.”