Thursday, April 2, 2026

U.S. Military shifts Quad Cities plant operations to International Navy Merchandise


Key Factors

  • The U.S. Military awarded International Navy Merchandise a four-year contract to handle and broaden manufacturing on the Quad Cities Cartridge Case Facility in Illinois.
  • The contract provides a home second-source functionality for 81mm and 120mm mortar barrels whereas rising cartridge case output for U.S. and allied demand.

The USA Military has awarded a four-year contract to International Navy Merchandise to imagine facility administration and new product growth tasks on the Quad Cities Cartridge Case Facility (QCCCF) at Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, in response to an April 1 announcement.

The federal government-owned website, which has operated for greater than a century as a part of the Military’s industrial base, will stay underneath federal possession whereas shifting day-to-day administration to the brand new contractor.

The 180,000-square-foot QCCCF is supplied with deep-drawn forging know-how used to fabricate brass and metal cartridge instances starting from 40mm to 155mm calibers. Beneath the brand new association, International Navy Merchandise mentioned it plans not solely to proceed present manufacturing but in addition to broaden output for extra cartridge instances tied to its present contracts protecting each U.S. and non-NATO ammunition necessities.

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“The Military’s Rock Island Arsenal has been in operation for greater than a century to maintain our nation deadly and prepared, with the Quad Cities Cartridge Case Facility centered on manufacturing of brass and metal cartridges,” mentioned Jeff Brunozzi, president of International Ordnance Holdings, LLC. “Beneath this settlement, we’ll leverage the ability’s capability and workers’ capabilities to higher serve the U.S. and its allies by increasing present cartridge case manufacturing and establishing a Mortar Barrel Manufacturing Heart of Excellence.”

In accordance with the corporate, the contract can even help the creation of a home Mortar Barrel Manufacturing Heart of Excellence contained in the QCCCF in partnership with Ellwood Nationwide Forge. The initiative is designed to determine a second U.S.-based manufacturing supply for 81mm and 120mm mortar barrels, a functionality the corporate mentioned is meant to strengthen readiness and scale back reliance on restricted provide chains.

QCCCF’s present tooling, workforce, and underused manufacturing belongings are anticipated for use to replenish cartridge case inventories that stay in demand each for U.S. forces and accomplice nations. The addition of mortar barrel manufacturing broadens the ability’s function past cartridge case manufacturing and aligns it extra carefully with wider Military modernization and industrial growth efforts.

“By integrating mortar barrel manufacturing into QCCCF’s expansive and well-structured manufacturing format, we’ll create a second-source home functionality for 81mm and 120mm mortar methods,” mentioned James Knight, director of enterprise growth at International Navy Merchandise. “Our strategy will each improve the ability’s operational versatility and rework its unused capability right into a strategically related manufacturing node for vital mortar barrels.”

Cartridge case manufacturing is a core ingredient of artillery ammunition manufacturing. Brass and metal cartridge instances home the propellant cost and primer elements required for methods starting from medium-caliber weapons to 155mm howitzers, which stay closely used throughout fashionable battlefields. Mortar barrels, in the meantime, are vital pressure-bearing elements that should meet strict metallurgical and dimensional requirements because of the repeated stress of oblique fireplace operations.

The partnership with Ellwood Nationwide Forge provides long-established home forging experience to the venture. As famous by the corporate, ENF has spent 4 a long time producing cannon, artillery, and mortar-related solid elements starting from 81mm to 155mm. Its vertically built-in course of contains metal design, melting, remelting, and forging operations, which can assist safe constant uncooked materials provide and high quality management for navy manufacturing traces.

The businesses concerned mentioned their groups have prior expertise supporting modernization and plant administration efforts at a number of different Military ammunition websites, together with the Scranton Military Ammunition Plant, Holston Military Ammunition Plant, and Radford Military Ammunition Plant. These services have been central to the broader U.S. push to revive and broaden home ammunition manufacturing capability.

The contract was awarded underneath a four-year Different Transaction Authority settlement on a firm-fixed-price foundation. No contract worth was disclosed.

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