# Army Seeks Pine Bluff Arsenal Modernization Partners

During Acting Army Secretary Adam R. Telle’s October 29–30, 2026, Arkansas visit, the Army highlighted Pine Bluff Arsenal modernization and supply-chain resilience as priorities. Separately, the Army Materiel Command is seeking whitepapers for a potential public-private partnership to modernize production facilities at the arsenal and manufacture small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) lethality payloads and electronic safe-and-arming devices (ESAD). This is market research and concept development—not an RFP or FAR procurement—and prospective partners would finance 100% of required modernization capital expenditures. Whitepapers are due **December 14, 2026, at 4:00 PM CST (42 days from November 2, 2026).**

- Companies with relevant production capabilities should assess whether they can fund the full facility modernization capital requirement as well as propose production concepts for the specified defense products.
- The notice does not announce an award, contract value, or conventional solicitation; respondents should treat it as an opportunity to shape a potential partnership rather than as a current FAR contract competition.
- The Army’s broader emphasis on commercial and university capabilities, logistics, advanced materials, semiconductors, and resilient infrastructure signals potential areas of interest, but the specific whitepaper notice focuses on Pine Bluff Arsenal facility modernization and sUAS payload and ESAD production.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Defense & Military, Construction & Infrastructure
**Topics:** Physical Infrastructure
**Published:** November 01, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Army (Army)
- Army Materiel Command (AMC)
- Army Contracting Command (ACC)
- Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA)

### Key Quotes
> If we are going to become more efficient, effective, and ultimately dominant on the battlefield, we must fully harness what we already have in America, which is the amazing spirit of ingenuity in our entrepreneurial capital markets and world-class research institutions.
> — Adam R. Telle, Acting Secretary of the Army

### Sources
- [DVIDS - News - Acting Army Secretary visits Arkansas to strengthen industrial base, forge strategic partnerships](https://www.dvidshub.net/news/578378/acting-army-secretary-visits-arkansas-strengthen-industrial-base-forge-strategic-partnerships) - DVIDS
- [This is one of the oddest US Defense Department contracting notices I've ever seen https://t.co/1b8bROrzma https://t.co/MMXmCF5plc](https://x.com/laserwarsHQ/status/2116955952222195722) - twitter-defense