Daniel Defense, LLC

Daniel Defense, LLC, a Georgia-based for-profit limited liability company and manufacturer of AR-15 style rifles, tactical components, and small arms barrels, operates as a prime contractor supplying firearms and firearm components to federal defense and law enforcement agencies on full-and-open (non-set-aside) basis across a 194-award federal footprint worth $75.4 million in combined potential value.

Daniel Defense manufactures and delivers concrete small arms products: complete rifles and short-barrel rifles (SBRs), M4 and M16 upper receiver groups, cold hammer-forged barrels in 11.5-inch and 14.5-inch configurations with gas systems, flash suppressors, gas tubes, and associated components. Representative prime work includes a $815,920 delivery order from Naval Sea Systems Command in December 2024 for 4,340 14.5-inch M4 barrels with mid-length gas systems; a $494,016 delivery order from NAVSEA in January 2024 for 11.5-inch M4 barrels; a $199,680 delivery order from the Department of the Air Force in March 2025 for carbine barrels; and recurring Marshals Service purchase orders for complete rifles and tactical equipment, such as a $161,595 order from U.S. Marshals Service Arizona in September 2024 and a $63,020 order from the Southern District of California in June 2024.

Customer concentration centers on defense platforms. The top five funding agencies by potential value account for 55% of combined dollars: the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command leads with 28 awards valued at $30.2 million, followed by Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime (10 awards, $4.8 million), the Department of the Air Force Air Mobility Command (10 awards, $2.5 million), the Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security (6 awards, $2.4 million), and the Department of the Army (6 awards, $1.7 million). By award count, NAVSEA dominates with 28 awards; the secondary volume tier includes the Air Force Air Mobility Command, DLA Land and Maritime, and multiple U.S. Marshals Service regional offices. Daniel Defense also serves the Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard, Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons, Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, and Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, across 74 distinct customer agencies total.

Daniel Defense holds two significant indefinite delivery vehicle contracts anchoring its federal platform. A $33.5 million Other Transaction IDV with United States Special Operations Command, awarded December 2023, covers medium-range gas gun assault systems including barrels, gas systems, upper receiver groups, and weapon adapter rails for M4 carbines and MK18 modular weapon systems. A $9.1 million single-award IDIQ with Naval Sea Systems Command, awarded March 2022 and running through March 2027, covers upper receiver groups and M4/M16 barrels under Total Small Business set-aside; associated task orders from NAVSEA, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard have yielded 12 task orders valued at $4.1 million and 17 task orders valued at $4.8 million under related Navy indefinite delivery vehicles N0016405D4864 and N0016410DJN70 respectively.

Activity has remained steady but modestly cyclical. Awards per year over the past five years: 12 in 2022, 7 in 2023, 14 in 2024, 12 in 2025, and 3 in 2026 year-to-date. Combined dollars obligated total $18.8 million (25% of the $75.4 million combined potential value), indicating a substantial unfunded backlog. Only five awards with combined potential value of $51 thousand carry ultimate completion dates within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete cliff exposure in that window. The two navy IDIQs running through 2027 represent the material contract-performance horizon.

Category concentration is extreme: 164 of 194 awards (85%) fall under NAICS 332991 (Small Arms, Ordnance, and Ordnance Accessories Manufacturing), and 155 awards (80%) carry PSC Guns, Through 30Mm. Daniel Defense competes entirely on full-and-open basis; neither the $33.5 million SOCOM OTA nor the $9.1 million Navy IDIQ carries a set-aside designation, and all named task orders and delivery orders are non-set-aside. The company manufactures at its facility in Black Creek (also referenced as Ellabell), Georgia, with performance substantially routed through that location and occasional regional fulfillment centers.