The US Army has opened a prototype facility in Idaho to process antimony sulfide, a critical ammunition material previously sourced from China.
The US Army has opened a prototype facility in Idaho to process antimony sulfide, a critical ammunition material previously sourced from China.
The service, Perpetua Resources, and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) marked the opening with demonstrations of antimony sulfide refining at the facility
Antimony sulfide is used in ammunition primers, helping them function across a wide range of temperatures. The US stopped receiving Chinese supplies of the material in 2021, creating a vulnerability in the domestic ammunition supply chain.
INL's prototype facility will continue demonstrations until Perpetua can begin producing raw antimony sulfide at Stibnite, which the army says is scheduled for late 2028.
The effort is part of the broader "Ground-to-Round" approach to establish a domestic supply chain stretching from raw materials to finished ammunition.
"By establishing an end-to-end US supply chain, we are actively mitigating foreign supply chain vulnerabilities, driving procurement resilience, and ensuring our industrial base can rapidly scale to meet the demands of modern conflict,” Picatinny Arsenal executive Robert Adcock said.
US Expands Component Production
The antimony sulfide facility is part of a broader US push to rebuild domestic capacity for materials and components that feed the supply chain.
In June, the US Army awarded contracts for critical mineral processing facilities at four military installations in Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and Utah. The projects will cover graphite, lithium, boron, and the rare earth elements dysprosium and terbium, materials used in defense manufacturing.
In February, the service and Conco opened a facility in Scottsburg, Indiana, to produce metal packaging containers for the 155mm Modular Artillery Charge System.
Earlier, in January, the US Army and Hanwha Defense USA also announced plans for a munitions facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas to produce key ingredients for explosives and propellants.
