Department of Defense splits $192.5M award for seven domestic manufacturers of critical chemicals

In all, seven awards were recently announced under the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Production Act Investments (DPAI) program, bringing $192.5 million to bear for the creation of domestic, critical chemical manufacturing capabilities.

Each award was given as a contract, and recipients included:

• CoorsTek Inc. of Golden, Colorado – $49.6 million to establish production of a critical material used for the protection of human lives and the packaging of ammunition and other defense systems.
• Goex/Estes Energetics of Camp Minden, Louisiana – $13.0 million to produce seven oxidizers used in energetic formulations and a muzzle suppressant.
• Lacamas Laboratories of Portland, Oregon – $86.2 million to begin production of two precursors of energetics, two precursors of non-energetics, and three stabilizers/burning rate moderators.
• Magrathea Metals Inc. of Oakland, California – $19.6 million for domestic production of magnesium.
• METSS Corporation of Westerville, Ohio – $14.0 million to domestically manufacture eight oxidizers used in energetic formulations and a muzzle suppressant.
• Powdermet Inc. of Euclid, Ohio –- $1.9 million to establish domestic production of titanium powder and zirconium powder for energetic formulations used for ignition and source of fuel.
• Synthio Chemicals Inc. of Broomfield, Colorado – $8.2 million to domestically produce three stabilizers/burning rate moderators and two smoke dyes.

DPAI arranged this as a way to incentivize companies to produce essential chemicals for everything from defense systems to industrial components and pharmaceuticals on U.S. soil. Each chosen company showed it was capable of meeting the minimum required production amounts for these chemicals with clean and efficient modern manufacturing practices. 

“These critical chemical investments show the National Defense Industrial Strategy in action to ensure resilient supply chains and promote economic deterrence,” Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, said. “The awards will result in the domestic production of military-grade chemicals by establishing, expanding, and modernizing the manufacturing capacity of 22 critical chemicals used in defense systems, including non-energetic chemicals and precursors for both energetic and non-energetic chemicals.

Each recipient will work with DPAI to build national capacity of associated chemicals by the end of 2027. The ultimate goal is to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign supplies for its defense industrial base.