A new hub for defense companies focused on key items like munitions and solid rocket motors is under development in the Midwest, as the Pentagon looks to broaden the US defense industrial base.

The American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation, or ACMI, an industrial developer and investment firm that concentrates on critical sectors of the domestic industrial base, says it has agreements with 16 companies to occupy its new Munitions Campus, to be constructed on the grounds of the company’s National Security Industrial Hub in Bloomfield, Indiana.

Bloomfield, Indiana is set to become a center for defense and advanced manufacturing with the launch of a $75 million Munitions Campus by ACMI Properties.

Located within the 1,141-acre National Security Industrial Hub near Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division, the federally backed project will support 16 defense firms through shared, state-of-the-art facilities. Construction begins later this year, with the first buildings expected by 2027.

The Southern Indiana community of Bloomfield is poised to become a hub for defense, aerospace and advanced manufacturing thanks to a major project by ACMI Properties. Construction is set to begin on the National Security Industrial Hub in the second half of 2025 in Bloomfield, Indiana. The 1,100-acre site is positioned near the Naval Surface Warfare…

Construction on the campus in Bloomfield, Indiana to begin in the second half of 2025   Bloomfield, IN. March 7, 2025 – The American Center for Manufacturing & Innovation (ACMI) and Prometheus Energetics (Prometheus), a U.S.-based merchant supplier of solid rocket motors (SRMs) established through a new corporation between Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.…

Avio USA, a subsidiary of Avio S.p.A, has selected ACMI Properties to design and plan its first solid rocket motor production facility in the United States. The project targets a potential investment in the U.S. industrial base to support the rapid increase in demand for solid rocket motors in the defense and aerospace industries.

Private investment is essential to fulfill the Defense Department’s priorities outlined in the National Defense Strategy. With the right conditions, emerging hardware technology companies hold the promise of delivering substantial returns on investment — potentially evolving into the next generation of government primes and industry leaders. Strengthening connections between government procurement and the investment community will foster a robust ecosystem where hardware technology companies can thrive.

While the Industry Ecosystems are new, they leverage aspects of highly successful concepts from the past. When manufacturing and R&D converge in a shared geographic location, synergies occur. ACMI’s approach stands out by shifting the responsibility for innovation, production, and distribution from individual companies to a shared tenancy model. This transition offers greater flexibility, reduces capital expenses, and fosters future innovation. It is an essential component for revitalizing American manufacturing in key sectors for national defense and economic prosperity.

The US innovation ecosystem is a vibrant cauldron. Harnessing its energy—and mitigating its risks—requires strategic, operational, and financial expertise as well as a high degree of collaboration. Although some nations rely on substantial government funding for technological innovation, as seen in the East Asian chip industry, the campus model leverages modest federal funds to gain a more sizable investment from aligned private capital sources. By taking advantage of these uniquely American, market-driven resources, ACMI is establishing new ways to efficiently transition critical technologies from laboratories to end users. This approach aims to rebuild the US industrial base organically by cultivating a dynamic, domestic defense manufacturing ecosystem.

ACMI Properties, a division of the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI), has announced it will spearhead the development and construction of a new industrial campus focused on munitions. The initiative is part of a $75 million Department of Defense (DoD) contract awarded to ACMI Federal to support the initial campus by the DoD’s Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience (IBR) through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) Directorate.

The American Center for Manufacturing & Innovation (ACMI) today announced Munitions Campus – Indiana. The project, a private-public partnership leveraging the Department of Defense (DOD)’s $75M Munitions Campus program award to ACMI and an estimated $300M 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.