Crane Army Ammunition Activity aims to establish more partnerships with the private sector to support its 15-year, $285 million modernization plan.
CAAA, which produces and provides conventional munitions for warfighters, sees public-private partnerships as a way to finance, build and operate various projects quickly, the U.S. Army said Thursday.
The Army unit currently evaluates defense companies that could be its potential partners in ammunition manufacturing.
As CAAA partners, contractors will have access to Crane’s facilities, ammunition-peculiar equipment and skilled workforce.
The modernization plan, which is part of the overall Army Materiel Command modernization strategy, would include such partnerships in a business model that would involve companies in current munitions production and advanced munitions development to level out the Army’s Organic Industrial Base workload.
According to Patricia Staggs, director for CAAA’s Activity Support Directorate, munitions workload fluctuates depending on the requirements of the Army and the Department of Defense.
Under a public-private partnership, a company “could utilize our touch labor force and we could fill capacity gaps instead of idling some of our skilled workers,” said Staggs.
Besides enhancing manufacturing efficiencies, such collaboration could also stabilize raw material procurement and other business-related costs.