21 Aug 25. US Army awards $635m contract for artillery ammunition facility. The new facility will have the capacity to load 36,000 155mm artillery rounds a month. The US Army has awarded MSM Group North America a $635m contract to design, construct, and inaugurate the Future Artillery Complex (FAC) at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. The agreement is facilitated by the Joint Program Executive Office Armaments & Ammunition – Project Lead Joint Services and the Army Contacting Command – Rock Island. The advanced FAC will leverage 21st-century technology to deliver scalable and cost-effective explosive loading capabilities for the US Army. It will incorporate lean manufacturing techniques alongside fully integrated system control and data acquisition systems, enhancing safety for operators and ensuring consistent quality in the production of 155mm artillery rounds. The facility’s automation and robotics will enable transitions between products, minimising downtime and allowing operations to maintain economic viability across varying production demands, stated US Army. With a capacity to load 36,000 155mm artillery rounds per month, the FAC will be capable of handling both current and future munitions with a melt-cast process. This fixed-price contract with provisions for economic price adjustments represents a key investment in the Organic Industrial Base’s modernisation efforts. Armaments & Ammunition joint programme executive officer and Picatinny Arsenal commanding general major general John Reim said: “Modernising 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.
“The FAC represents much-needed new technology investments to modernise the Arsenal of Democracy in order to meet the evolving demands of the warfighter in 2025 and beyond.”
The construction of the FAC is slated for completion within 40 months, with full operational status expected by September 2029. The facility will create approximately 70 jobs in manufacturing, quality assurance, and operational support. MSM North America chief executive officer Jason Gaines said: “I extend my heartfelt thanks to the CSG team for their invaluable support and expertise, without which MSM North America would not have secured this opportunity. We are excited to collaborate with a top-tier team of American firms under MSM North America’s leadership to deliver this transformative project.”
In April 2025, the US Army opened a new facility dedicated to loading artillery projectiles. When operating at full capacity, this facility is expected to achieve 50% of the total monthly production goal for 155mm shells within the entire US industrial base. (Source: army-technology.com)
20 Aug 25. X-Bow Systems and US Army Announce $13.9m Joint Investment for Next-Gen GMLRS Rocket Motor. Investment to Boost Production of Critical Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Components. X-Bow Systems Inc (X-Bow), the leading non-traditional producer of advanced solid rocket motors (SRMs) and defense technologies, and the U.S. Army, with support from the Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), have announced a $13.9m joint investment. This collaboration aims to design, prototype, and test an advanced manufactured SRM for the standard-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). This joint investment, facilitated by OSC, is a strategic effort to address constraints in the nation’s production capacity for missiles, munitions, and SRMs, which are currently limited by older manufacturing processes. The initiative seeks to establish an alternative supply source and strengthen the solid rocket motor industrial base, using X-Bow’s patented advanced-manufactured solid-propellant (AMSP) processes for SRMs.
“This investment will introduce next-generation manufacturing for critical defense systems,” said Jason Hundley, CEO of X-Bow Systems. “Our Luling, Texas campus, using these advanced methods, will have the capability to produce thousands of SRMs, including GMLRS.”
OSC is supporting the U.S. Army in this effort through a cost-matching structure that facilitates this partnership, combining U.S. Government funding with private sector matching funds. This collaboration directly supports the Army’s objectives to secure a robust and reliable supply of critical munitions. This Advanced Manufacturing Pathfinder is being coordinated by OSC on behalf of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) and in support of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT)) and the Army’s Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space (PEO MS). X-Bow will partner with Kord Technologies, LLC (Kord), a wholly owned subsidiary of KBR, to develop this Pathfinder. Kord will provide systems engineering and technical support. The project will culminate in a static fire demonstration of the GMLRS propulsion prototype, supporting the development of a new non-traditional supplier for DoD. (Source: ASD Network)
19 Aug 25. BAE Systems is quietly ramping up production of 155mm artillery shells at Glascoed in rural South Wales. Output will have increased 16-fold from 2022 levels by the end of this year. Two months ago the defence group opened a new factory in Sheffield making gun barrels for the M777 lightweight howitzer, to be supplied directly to Ukraine. Poland is now producing a m bullets a day, up five times from pre-war levels. Annual output of Grot rifles will have risen six times to 100,000 by next year. Germany’s RheinMetall will soon be making 1.1 m howitzer shells a year, up from pre-war levels of 70,000. It is in talks to make armoured vehicles at Volkswagen’s surplus plant in Osnabrück. The weapons company is now worth more than VW, Munich Re or Deutsche Bank on the German bourse. A sign of the times. Europe’s missile conglomerate MBDA is building a plant with Raytheon in Germany that will produce more American Patriot air defence missiles than America itself. Production of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T – Europe’s answer to the Patriot – has risen fivefold compared to the original 2022 plan. The SAMP/T has largely closed the technology gap, lifting the range to 90 miles. (Source: Daily Telegraph)
15 Aug 25. Mission complete, US carrier transfers ammunition to sister ship. The USS Harry S. Truman could be set to undergo an extensive overhaul of its reactors and other systems. Two months after returning from an eight-month deployment to the US 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation, the US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman conducted a five-day ammunition unload serial while underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Personnel from USS Harry S. Truman worked alongside Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11 to transfer 1,185 tonnes of conventional munitions to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Robert E. Peary during vertical and connected replenishment operations between 3-8 August. Ammunition offloads are standard following deployments and before maintenance periods. In 2024, Truman supported a multi-ship offload with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Gerald R. Ford, and USNS William McLean, completing more than 1,700 ordnance transfers. The completion of Truman’s ammunition offload marks another milestone in the ship’s focus on sustained operational proficiency as it prepares for its next phase in the maintenance cycle. Since commissioning on 25 July 1998, the carrier has completed ten deployments. USS Harry S. Truman, the flagship of the Harry S. Truman Strike Group, is a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. For the US Navy, Carrier Strike Groups remain the cornerstone of the service’s forward presence through sea control and power projection. The US Navy’s Nimitz-class supercarriers were the largest warships afloat until the first of the successor Ford-class entered service in 2017. While the older Nimitz class will be replaced by the Ford-class carriers, the process is glacial with the eventual retirement of newest vessel, the USS George H. W. Bush, not likely for another couple of decades at least. It is likely that with the removal of ammunition, the USS Harry S. Truman is preparing to enter a refuelling and complex overhaul (RCOH) period, which generally occurs around mid-way through the aircraft carrier’s service. (Source: naval-technology.com)