U.S. Army, General Dynamics investing $110 million in new Camden munitions plant

By Wesley Brown – The Pentagon continues to spend defense dollars in Arkansas after the U.S. Army announced this week it is spending over $110 million in south Arkansas to restock the nation’s ammunition stockpile depleted by the Ukraine war.

On Tuesday (April 22), the U.S. Army and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems announced the opening of a new load, assemble, and pack facility for 155 mm high-explosive artillery projectiles at the Highland Industrial Park in Camden, Ark.

U.S. Army officials said the new facility reinforces the U.S. military’s strategic effort to expand production capacity, restore the defense industrial base, and strengthen deterrence through sustained investment in readiness.

“The Army must transform and get war-winning capabilities into the hands of Soldiers now, including key munitions. The Camden load, assembly, and pack munitions facility is just one of several modernization investments the Army is making to reinforce and strengthen our defense industrial base,” said the new Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. “The Army remains committed to delivering relevant munitions at speed and scale to our soldiers, the joint force, and allies and partners. It is not lost on us that a key component of victory on the battlefield starts in our production facilities.”

For General Dynamics, one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, the 155 mm artillery facility represents an investment of $110 million for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. It will create 185 new jobs in the region. Once fully operational, the Camden facility’s two LAP lines will produce 155 mm explosives at a rate of 50,000 per month. 

According to the U.S. Army, the LAP facility is the final stage in artillery projectile production, where 155 mm metal projectile bodies are filled with explosive material, assembled with other components, and packed for shipment. The Camden facility features two new LAP lines that, when fully operational, will produce complete high-explosive projectiles at a rate of 50,000 per month.

The facility is also part of a coordinated effort by the Army to increase the monthly output of 155 mm artillery projectiles to 100,000 per month. Since 2022, the Army has nearly quadrupled its monthly production of this critical munition, driven by efforts to improve readiness, respond to global demands, and incorporate lessons learned from current conflicts, including the Ukrainian war, where the U.S. has spent billions of dollars to support the fight against Russia.

According to data gathered by Arkansas Black Vitality, the U.S. committed more than $61.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, following Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24, 2022.

At the mammoth Highland industrial complex in Camden, defense contractors such as General Dynamics, RTX, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and its parent company L3 Harris Technology supply weapons systems, ammunition, missiles, and other military equipment and products to support the Ukraine war effort directly or indirectly.

In the company’s first quarter earnings report on Wednesday, General Dynamics CEO Phoebe Novakovic mentioned the Camden fire assembly facility and told Wall Street analysts that the Arlington, Va.-based defense contractor saw a 24% jump in profits primarily due to its defense business with the U.S. government and other global clients.

Under the company’s combat and marine subsidiaries, the prime defense contractor brand-name products for the U.S. military and other global clients include the M1 Abrams tank, Virginia-Class submarines, and Stryker anti-tank missiles and armored vehicles used by Ukraine in the ongoing war with Russia.

“Demand for combat system products continues to be robust, with particular strength in Europe,” said Novakovic, citing “the heightened threat environment” globally.

General Dynamics reported first-quarter earnings of $1.3 billion, or $3.66 per diluted share, on revenue of $12.2 billion. On a company-wide basis, orders totaled $10.2 billion, and the backlog at the end of the quarter was $88.7 billion.

In Camden, operations house over 880,000 square feet of manufacturing and storage space and over 100 workers support various U.S. military programs, including the Hydra-70 2.75-inch rocket, Hellfire and Javelin missiles, the Modular Artillery Charge System, and various mortar munitions.

Last year, a day before the Fourth of July holiday, a pyrotechnic explosion at the General Dynamics facility in southern Arkansas killed one person and injured two. DoD officials said the new facility will bring the Army’s industrial base into the 21st century by leveraging new technologies and incorporating advanced automation and digital quality tracking for improved consistency and throughput.

 The facility will also introduce a next-generation air-cooling system for explosive curing to reduce water use in contrast to legacy cooling methods. These investments will significantly strengthen U.S. munition production capabilities and serve as a credible deterrent to adversaries.

The new facility will bring the Army’s industrial base into the 21st century by leveraging new technologies and incorporating advanced automation and digital quality tracking for improved consistency and throughput. The facility will also introduce a next-generation air-cooling system for explosive curing to reduce water use in contrast to legacy cooling methods. These investments will significantly strengthen U.S. munition production capabilities and serve as a credible deterrent to adversaries.

Highland Industrial Park activities picking up steam

The Army’s partnership with General Dynamics facility is the second multimillion-dollar public-private investment at the vast military complex in Calhoun County. The Highland industrial park is an 18,780-acre Industrial Park with 5,408,686 square feet of industrial and warehousing facilities in the bedroom community of East Camden. 

According to an ABV story in February, defense contractor L3Harris Technologies started construction on a multimillion-dollar rocket motor production complex at Highland that will increase the speed of production and delivery for the nation’s mission stockpile, including those headed to Ukraine.

The expansion is part of a $215.6 million cooperative agreement between the Defense Department’s (DoD) Defense Production Act Title III program and L3Harris, first announced in April 2023. At the time, L3Harris was still two months away from completing its $4.6 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne in July 2023, a critical merchant supplier of propulsion systems for the nation’s larger defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

According to L3 Harris, headquartered in Melbourne, Fla., construction workers in south Arkansas are building four new rocket motor production facilities to increase domestic rocket propulsion manufacturing capacity as demand grows for tactical and strategic missile capabilities.

Following construction, the sprawling Camden site, which now employs more than 1,100 workers, will include a 60,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that will centralize production of a key program under one roof, cutting the distance motors travel during manufacturing by 80%. The expansion will also include a dedicated mixer building and complementary propellant processing buildings to support increased motor production.