The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Industrial Base Support (IBS) office, through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authority, is supporting a Louisiana facility that produces black powder, a widely used propellant in artillery, firearms, rocketry, pyrotechnics, and numerous weapons systems.
The $3.5 million investment by the DoD will allow the facility, owned by Estes Energetics, through its Goex subsidiary, to reopen after an accident shut down production. The total cost of the project is $5.3 million over two years, and it will allow production to resume at the Minden, Louisiana facility in two years or less.
This investment will bring a critical defense industrial base asset back to production status and help Goex modernize the facility, with the intent of reducing operational risk and improving safety. Goex is currently the only American source of black powder, which also has commercial applications in model rockets, muzzle-loading firearms, fireworks, and other industrial processes.