This month, the U.S. Army awarded a $635 million contract to MSM Group North America to build and design the Future Artillery Complex (FAC) at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant to ramp up the production of artillery shells, which have been increasingly needed since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"The new facility will feature 21st century manufacturing technology that will provide the Army with a scalable, flexible and affordable explosive load, assemble and pack facility," an Army press release states. Part of the issue is that the military has needed to modernize its production facilities, most of which were built during World War II and "are operating much the same way they did 80 years ago," according to the Army.
The new FAC will be designed to blend robotics and automation into the process of manufacturing 155mm artillery shells, creating a fully modern production facility. MSM North America is a part of the Czechoslovak Group, which, according to its website, "is a Czech industrial-technological holding company encompassing over 100 companies with over 10,000 employees worldwide."
Foreign companies can bid on American defense contracts, although there are stipulations that the factories must reside in the United States, and a certain percentage of the employees must be Americans.
The FAC will be designed to be adaptable to high production and low production demands, "to operate economically at either peak capacity or reduced Minimum Sustaining Rate." The Army's goal is to be able to produce 100,000 artillery shells per month if requested to.