Title 10Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§7553 Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Initiative

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle B— - Army › Part PART IV— - SERVICE, SUPPLY, AND PROCUREMENT › Chapter CHAPTER 764— - ARMAMENTS INDUSTRIAL BASE › § 7553

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary may run a program called the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Initiative (ARMS Initiative). The program encourages commercial firms and small businesses to use eligible facilities. It aims to keep a skilled workforce for national security, try new business practices, make facility operations more market-driven, and cut government ownership costs (like operations, maintenance, and environmental cleanup). It also seeks to lower the cost of defense products and attract private investment through long-term contracts to update equipment, pay for cleanup, support commercial ventures, or other approved activities. The program promotes cooperation among the Army, property managers, businesses, and state and local agencies and tries to avoid disposal costs if property becomes excess. The Secretary may make any eligible facility available for the program. The rules in section 1302 of title 40 do not apply to uses under the ARMS Initiative. ARMS funds may pay for administrative support and management. The Secretary must send a full annual accounting of those expenses to the Senate and House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees no later than March 30 of the year after each fiscal year.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §7553

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary may carry out a program to be known as the “Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Initiative”.
(b)The purposes of the ARMS Initiative are as follows:
(1)To encourage commercial firms, to the maximum extent practicable, to use eligible facilities for commercial purposes.
(2)To increase the opportunities for small businesses (including socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns and new small businesses) to use eligible facilities for those purposes.
(3)To maintain in the United States a work force having the skills necessary to meet industrial emergency planned requirements for national security purposes.
(4)To demonstrate innovative business practices, to support Department of Defense acquisition reform, and to serve as both a model and a laboratory for future defense conversion initiatives of the Department of Defense.
(5)To the maximum extent practicable, to allow the operation of eligible facilities to be rapidly responsive to the forces of free market competition.
(6)To reduce or eliminate the cost of Government ownership of eligible facilities, including the costs of operations and maintenance, the costs of environmental remediation, and other costs.
(7)To reduce the cost of products of the Department of Defense produced at eligible facilities.
(8)To leverage private investment at eligible facilities through long-term facility use contracts, property management contracts, leases, or other agreements that support and advance the policies and purposes of this chapter, for the following activities:
(A)Recapitalization of plant and equipment.
(B)Environmental remediation.
(C)Promotion of commercial business ventures.
(D)Other activities approved by the Secretary.
(9)To foster cooperation between the Department of the Army, property managers, commercial interests, and State and local agencies in the implementation of sustainable development strategies and investment in eligible facilities made available for purposes of the ARMS Initiative.
(10)To reduce or eliminate the cost of asset disposal that would be incurred if property at an eligible facility was declared excess to the needs of the Department of the Army.
(c)The Secretary may make any eligible facility available for the purposes of the ARMS Initiative.
(d)Section 1302 of title 40 shall not apply to uses of property or facilities in accordance with the ARMS Initiative.
(e)(1)Funds appropriated for purposes of the ARMS Initiative may be used for administrative support and management.
(2)A full annual accounting of such expenses for each fiscal year shall be provided to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives not later than March 30 of the following fiscal year.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 4553 of this title as this section. 2006—Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 109–163 struck out “in manufacturing processes that are” after “having the skills”. 2003—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 108–178 substituted “Section 1302 of title 40” for “section 321 of the Act of June 30, 1932 (40 U.S.C. 303b),”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Effective Date

of 2003 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 108–178 effective Aug. 21, 2002, see section 5 of Pub. L. 108–178, set out as a note under section 5334 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 7553

Title 10Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73