The Pentagon is further enhancing domestic munitions production by awarding Nitradyn a contract to build an Insensitive Munition Explosive‑104 (IMX‑104) production facility.
The Florida-based company, founded in 2025 as a joint venture between Dyno Nobel Limited and Paligen Chemical, supplies explosives, propellants, and energetic materials to defense and industrial customers.
Under the $581-million contract, Nitradyn is tasked with designing, constructing, and commissioning an IMX-104 Plant in Graham, Kentucky, before the end of 2030.
The facility is set to use advanced defense engineering and modern explosives manufacturing processes for the IMX-104’s constituent explosives — the RDX, NTO, and DNAN — as well as the critical explosive HMX.
It is expected to annually produce approximately 8 million pounds of IMX-104, while having excess capacity to produce other formulations.
The IMX-104 plant will be built on the same site as the US Army’s upcoming TNT production facility, currently under development and set to become America’s first local TNT source since the 1980s, enabling the production of a diverse range of formulations.
According to Nitradyn President Braden Lusk, the project will expand US capacity to produce critical munitions and strengthen the domestic defense industrial base to meet future demand.
“Building this facility strengthens our domestic industrial base, creates high-quality American jobs, and ensures that our nation has the capacity to meet the demands of tomorrow. We are proud to play our part in making America’s defense industrial base stronger, more resilient, and ready.”