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Army invests $635M in cutting-edge artillery ammunition production facility

By Michael Chambers August 20, 2025

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- The U.S. Army's Joint Program Executive Office Armaments & Ammunition - Project Lead Joint Services and Army Contacting Command - Rock Island have awarded a $635M fixed-price-with-economic-price-adjustment contract to MSM Group North America to design, build, and commission the Future Artillery Complex, or FAC, at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. This contract is being executed as a sole source undefinitized contract action under the authority of Section 3204(a)(7) of Title 10, United States Code (10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(7)), and Subsection 1244(a)(2) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.

The contract is the latest modernization investment by the Army in the organic industrial base, which supplies ammunition for all U.S. military services and many of our allies. The new facility will feature 21st century manufacturing technology that will provide the Army with a scalable, flexible and affordable explosive load, assemble and pack facility. Leveraging lean manufacturing principles and fully integrated system control and data acquisition systems, the FAC will blend robotics and automation with state-of-the-art systems to ensure operator safety and consistent product quality for current and future 155mm artillery production. This cutting-edge technology will give the FAC the flexibility to transition seamlessly between products with minimal downtime, and to operate economically at either peak capacity or reduced Minimum Sustaining Rate.

"Modernizing the industrial base and replacing critical munition stockpiles are high priorities for the Defense Department, projects like the FAC are geared to improve the Army's ability to scale production between surge and down times while also providing flexible capacity to produce future go-to-war rounds," said Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer Armaments & Ammunition and Commanding General at Picatinny Arsenal. "When the Army realized the need to modernize our production capabilities, Congress allocated $5B to add capacity and bring the defense industrial base into the 21st century. The FAC represents much-needed new technology investments to modernize the Arsenal of Democracy in order to meet the evolving demands of the warfighter in 2025 and beyond."

In addition to addressing the Army's goals of increasing 155mm artillery round capacity and replenishing its own stockpiles, projects like the FAC are a pivotal part of DOD's mission to modernize the aging industrial base. Most of the nation's munitions plants were built during World War II and are operating much the same way they did 80 years ago. The Army's acquisition enterprise, led by JPEO A&A, is managing multiple modernization efforts to improve capacity and eliminate many single source challenges.

"Standing up state-of-the-art facilities like the FAC is essential to JPEO A&A's mission to provide lethal munitions to our Joint Warfighters and international partners," said Reim. "It is not lost on us that victory on the battlefield starts in our production facilities. The FAC will enable munitions production at speed and scale thereby increasing Army readiness and Warfighter lethality."