The headquarters building at the Pine Bluff Arsenal (U.S. Army photo by Dori Whipple)Munitions manufacturer Hanwha Defense USA of Arlington, Virginia, plans to invest about $1.3 billion to build and operate a new munitions facility at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, the U.S. Army announced Wednesday. Hanwha Defense USA is a U.S.-based subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Group. At the company’s planned Pine Bluff Arsenal site, it would manufacture ingredients for explosives and propellants. About-FaceThe project is an about-face by the Army, which in 2025 had proposed downsizing the Pine Bluff Arsenal. On Wednesday, the state’s congressional leaders praised Hanwha Defense USA’s project as a victory for both the local economy and national security.