The Rock Island Arsenal Defense Alliance (RIADA) is a community-led Chamber-affiliated 501c6 nonprofit corporation that is dedicated to the support and promotion of the Rock Island Arsenal and Quad Cities region's defense industry. The Rock Island Arsenal Defense Alliance (RIADA) was established to promote the continued health and vitality of Rock Island Arsenal (RIA) as a significant contributor to our national defense and major employer in the QC. In doing so, RIADA seeks to defend the existing missions and employment on RIA and seek opportunities to add additional missions and employment. In addition, RIADA seeks to support and promote defense industries located in the QC.
RIADA is structured with a Board of Directors and an Executive Director. In addition, RIADA is strongly supported in its efforts by The Roosevelt Group (TRG), a Washington D.C.-based consulting group. The RIADA Executive Director maintains regular and frequent contact with the various key leaders on RIA, including the RIA Garrison Commander (in effect, the ‘mayor’ of RIA, the Commander of the Joint Manufacturing Technology Center (JMTC), and the Commanding Generals of some of the major Army Commands headquartered on RIA, to include First Army, US Army Sustainment Command and the Joint Munitions Command. Members of the Board of Directors also engage with Arsenal leadership. The contact and engagement by the Executive Director and Board members aim to understand the threats, opportunities and needs of RIA-based organizations. Then, working through TRG, we engage with members of the QC Congressional delegations and their staffs to translate RIA needs into legislative action.
The Rock Island Arsenal, located on a 900-acre island in the Mississippi River, is at the heart of the Quad Cities community and one of the largest employers. It's a joint base comprised of over 70 Department of Defense organizations, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, National Guard and Reserves. The Commands headquartered on the RIA have a global presence supporting the United States armed forces with ammunition, joint logistics support, contracting services, mobilization and training support with advanced manufacturing capabilities.
Overall accomplishments of RIADA since its creation
RIADA achieves most of its results by working with the QC’s Congressional delegation.
- Overall, working through the delegation, RIADA has obtained over $115 million in facilities and equipment investments for RIA.
- Led an effort with the Congressional Delegation to develop legislation in the annual defense authorization bill that would create a first-of-a-kind Arsenal workload sustainment language, creating a pilot program that would incentivize greater public-private partnerships (P3) with the Arsenal – to assist in developing increased pathways for expanded and sustainable workloads.
- Working through the delegation, RIADA drove efforts to obtain $20 million in funding to support the establishment of the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AMCoE) at the JMTC. The AMCoE utilizes a range of additive manufacturing technologies and enabling tools, mostly 3D printing types. This Center makes repair parts for the Army and the Department of War.
- Taking the concept further, RIADA advocated for funding to establish the Jointless Hull program at the AMCoE. The Jointless Hull program entails the recent installation of the world’s largest 3D printer. Once the printer is fully operational, we anticipate that it will attract workloads from the Army and may attract companies to establish a new presence in the region.
- Further building off the AMCoE wins, we attracted a business with the world’s fastest 3D printing machine, which is now a key component of the Army’s Sky Foundry program to produce unmanned aircraft systems. The Army has established a goal for the Sky Foundry program to 3D print over 10,000 drone bodies per month, solidifying the importance of Rock Island Arsenal to the Army's future transformation needs.
- Working through the delegations, RIADA helped secure over $100 million in funding for the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) over several years. This program is critical to sustaining workloads at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District.
- RIADA supported the Army’s Civilian Human Resources Agency (CHRA) in its analysis, which led to CHRA adding more than 50 new white-collar jobs on RIA.
- RIADA partnered with the U.S. Army and the Congressional delegations to develop an online real estate tool for the U.S. Army to assist in the better utilization of existing infrastructure on Army installations, protecting taxpayer investments on our military installations across the United States.
RIADA's goals
- Fostering relationships and integration of military and community leaders
- Maintaining awareness of strategic events and actions
- Engaging senior local, regional and national leaders in activities that communicate and strengthen the impact of the Arsenal
- Building awareness and market capabilities of the Quad Cities defense industry
- Enhancing and attracting the presence of defense contractors in the Quad Cities
