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Byrna’s “Made in America” Move and Why the Defense Community Should Care
Byrna Technologies’ decision to relocate all manufacturing to the United States—creating over 200 jobs and strengthening domestic supply chains—highlights why the defense community should champion the reshoring movement as a matter of national resilience and security.
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The Story
In recent years, Byrna Technologies has taken significant steps to bring its manufacturing and supply chain back to the United States. The company—known for its less-lethal launcher systems such as the Byrna SD—has shifted production and sourcing in a way that merits attention from defence, security, and supply‐chain stakeholders alike.
Byrna’s manufacturing footprint is now anchored in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For example, the company announced a new ammunition production facility located just five miles from its launcher plant, giving it the capacity to produce 8 million rounds annually.
The firm also reports that 92% of its launcher components are now sourced in the U.S., and plans to reach 100% domestic sourcing for its flagship SD launcher by the end of 2025.
The move away from foreign sourcing and manufacturing—particularly in China and South Africa—forms part of Bryna’s broader “Made in America” strategy.
Although Byrna has not publicly disclosed a precise figure for the total number of jobs created by this shift, past announcements provide some clues: when Byrna first opened its Fort Wayne manufacturing facility in October 2020, it stated that about 30 new U.S. jobs were created immediately.
Later in early 2024, Byrna noted that it had added 25% more production workers at Fort Wayne (to respond to rising demand) and increased monthly launcher capacity from 10,000 to 12,500 units. These numbers suggest a meaningful but still modest scale of direct employment. The company emphasises that the reshoring also stimulates jobs among U.S. component suppliers, though it does not break out those numbers in its public filings.
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From a defense‐supply perspective, Byrna’s restructuring illustrates several key themes:
1. Supply-chain resilience and national security. By relocating manufacturing and sourcing domestically, Byrna reduces its exposure to geopolitical risk, trade disruption, tariffs, and long, complex global logistics. The company cites explicitly that shift as “creating well-paying jobs for American workers, reducing lead times and eliminating the risks associated with unreliable foreign suppliers.”
For defense agencies and contractors whose mission depends on the reliability and timely availability of equipment or components, domestic sourcing offers strategic advantages.
2. Supporting the domestic industrial base. Bringing jobs and manufacturing back to America helps rebuild manufacturing capability at a time when much of the industrial base has offshored or declined. A stronger domestic manufacturing infrastructure supports regional economies, skilled workforce development, and ensures that critical technologies remain within U.S. reach. For the defence community, a robust industrial base means less reliance on external vendors or foreign supply chains for critical systems.
3. Quality, speed, and control. Byrna’s comments underline that moving production stateside enables better quality control, faster turnaround, and more efficient logistics. For example, the new ammunition facility’s proximity to the launcher plant allows integrated operations and shorter lead times. These operational benefits are directly relevant to defense programs that demand high reliability, traceability, and speed of response.
4. Messaging and procurement advantage. A “Made in America” narrative can carry value in procurement – both politically and in tender processes where domestic content or local sourcing may be a factor. Byrna is positioning itself to market its products as wholly U.S. manufactured, with the associated branding and margin benefits. Defence customers often favour U.S.-based production because of policy, legal, or security considerations.
5. Incentivizing others and the broader reshoring trend. Byrna is one example among many manufacturers that are reconsidering offshoring in favour of domestic production. The defence community can encourage and support this trend—for instance, through procurement preferences, domestic content requirements, or supply-chain incentives—thus fostering a more resilient industrial and supply-chain ecosystem.
Of course, there are still challenges: domestic labour and overhead costs tend to be higher than in many offshore locations; companies like Byrna must invest in modern equipment, workforce training, and scale-up to make domestic manufacturing economically viable. But as Byrna’s case shows, the benefits—resilience, quality, speed, control, local economic impact—are compelling.
What this means for the defense community:
When selecting vendors or suppliers, defence agencies should include domestic manufacturing footprint and supply-chain sourcing as part of the evaluation criteria.
Supporting companies that are bringing jobs home helps re-establish industrial capacity that may be called upon in future contingencies or for surge manufacturing.
Domestic sourcing reduces vulnerability to supply chain disruptions during times of geopolitical stress or trade conflicts.
Agencies should collaborate with industry to identify critical components or systems where reshoring makes strategic sense—not just for cost, but also for national security.
In procurement policy, weighting domestic content or supporting U.S.-based firms establishes a long-term industrial base and workforce.
Byrna’s move to shift manufacturing and sourcing back to the U.S. illustrates how a smaller defense-adjacent manufacturer can boost domestic capacity, align its supply chain with national security interests, and reinforce U.S. manufacturing jobs. For the broader defence community, supporting reshoring is less about patriotic branding and more about the strategic industrial base, supply-chain resilience, and long-term readiness.
Product Evaluation: Byrna Launcher
The Byrna launcher family offers a compact, CO₂-powered, less-lethal option for personal protection—firing kinetic or chemical irritant projectiles out to about 60 ft—that fills the gap when concealed-carry (CCH) isn’t practical or lawful, letting users respond with non-deadly force in many self-defense scenarios while avoiding lethal outcomes; Byrna markets several models (SD, LE, CL) that require no permit in most places and their SD kits are advertised as legal in all 50 states. However, users should confirm local rules and training before use.
Byrna is not a sponsor of Personal Security News, but many of our staff personally own Byrna launchers. For more information, visit https://byrna.com.
