Exclusive: A defense production hub comes to Indiana
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The American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation will break ground Thursday on a 1,100-acre defense-tech development and manufacturing hub in Indiana.
Why it matters: The venture is backed by a $75 million Defense Department munitions campus investment. It also neighbors Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division, one of the largest naval installations in the world.
The latest: Defense officials and members of Congress — Republican Rep. Mark Messmer and Sens. Jim Banks and Todd Young, all of the Hoosier State — are expected to attend the shovel-turning.
- "Indiana is a high-capacity manufacturing state, historically. We've got the workforce and defense partners," Messmer told Axios.
- "As we work on this year's [National Defense Authorization Act], we're going to continue to look at building out a more robust supply chain and how we can most effectively do that."
State of play: This first National Security Industrial Hub is meant to springboard emerging technologies, bulk up domestic resources and foster national security collaboration, including with academia, according to ACMI Group chief executive John Burer.
- "As we launch this, it's a template for rebuilding the defense industrial base, the manufacturing capability," he told Axios.
Zoom in: Prometheus Energetics, a Kratos and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems joint venture, will establish its headquarters and main solid-rocket motor facilities on 600 acres of the property.
- "There is a significant demand in the marketplace for solid-rocket motors and energetics," Daniel Merenda, the COO, told Axios. "The inventory has been depleted over the last several years, given what's happened on the national stage."
- Merenda expects a prototype factory to be "turned on" this year. The first proper production line could be up and running toward the end of 2028. Long-term, four full production lines are envisioned, "approaching tens of thousands of rockets a year."
By the numbers: The project is advertised as creating thousands of jobs and catalyzing $600 million in private spending.
What's next: Burer teased two other groundbreakings that could happen as soon as this summer.
Go deeper: Army kickstarts plans for huge artillery ammo factory in Iowa
