New Primer and Smokeless Propellant Factory To Open In Arkansas

D&M Holding Company, an ammunition and energetics engineering company, is investing $70 million to build a single-base, smokeless propellant factory and expand its current White River Energetics (WRE) ammunition primer and energetics facility in Des Arc, Ark. “Currently, there is a worldwide shortage of smokeless propellant that is affecting munitions availability globally,” said Dan Powers, president and CEO of D&M Holding Company. “This will be the first single-base propellant factory to be built in the United States in over 50 years.”

WRE currently has 125 employees at the Des Arc facility, with 73 new employees added in just the past year. The expansion will create 100 new jobs and increase the campus from 14,000 square feet to more than 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Construction on the expansion is underway and expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

“We are proud of all the people and employees who have worked tirelessly to support WRE and make this happen,” said B.J. Rogers, vice president of operations at D&M Holding Company. “Having grown up in Des Arc, I’m personally proud to see the successes that have been made with primers and look forward to continued success in the future production of propellant.”

The growth will enable WRE to scale its energetics and primer manufacturing to meet customer demand as well as develop new products. “This expanded campus also provides a facility for R&D and for training for our customers for whom we are building factories around the world,” said James Jones, vice president of business development, D&M Holding Company.

D&M and WRE support domestic and international clients in the defense and sporting markets through development of turnkey factories, and its manufacturing and distribution of energetics for various types of ammunition, including primers for small- and large-caliber pistols and rifles.