Overview
- Hanwha Defense USA opened an on-site administration office at the U.S. Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal on Monday as the initial step toward its planned Hanwha Advanced Manufacturing Campus.
- The company said it will invest about $2.2 billion and expects to create close to 400 jobs over seven years, though it did not provide a timeline for when factory construction will begin.
- The planned facility will produce 155mm propellant charges, base bleed units, and ingredients used in explosives and propellants to expand domestic artillery munitions capacity.
- Hanwha was selected in January as the lessee for a site at Pine Bluff under a U.S. Army solicitation, and Army and Arkansas officials praised the lease as a way to generate revenue for the installation and strengthen the industrial base.
- The Arkansas campus is part of Hanwha’s broader U.S. expansion that includes a recent contract for a K9MH howitzer prototype and work in Opelika, Alabama, and stakeholders say the next milestones to watch are lease finalization, construction start dates, and local hiring plans.