Posted on 05/26/2004 6:53:33 PM PDT by NCjim
Even in the age of unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite-guided bombs and night-vision goggles, the US army cannot fight a war without its most basic necessity: bullets.
And with more troops in Iraq, more intense combat than expected and the need for almost every soldier from frontline infantryman to rearguard logistician to be prepared for an ambush, the army suddenly finds itself in a bullet crunch.
According to a requisition last week by the Army Field Support Command, the service will need 300m to 500m more bullets a year for at least five years, or more than 1.5m a year for combat and training. And because the single army-owned, small-calibre ammunition factory in Lake City, Missouri, can produce only 1.2m bullets annually, the army is suddenly scrambling to get private defence contractors to help fill the gap.
The bullet problem has its roots in a Pentagon effort to restock its depleted war materiel reserve. But it has been exacerbated by the ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where rearguard and supply units have been thinly-stretched throughout the countryside, occasionally without active duty combat soldiers to protect them.
The army's formal solicitation acknowledges that its current m anufacturing abilities have been all but exhausted. "Increasing military contingencies have created a situation where the capability to produce small calibre ammunition through conventional methods has been fully exercised," it said.
Specifically, the army is looking for 300m more bullets annually, potentially rising to 500m a year.
Alliant Techsystems, which runs the army-owned factory in Lake City, is in talks with the military about remedying the bullet production shortage, insisting it could expand output by 200m to 300m a year.
General Dynamics, the US defence contractor which submitted its proposed solution on Tuesday, said it had pulled together several small bullet suppliers - including Winchester, a unit of Olin Corporation; Israel Military Industries; and Canada's SNC Technologies - to meet the army's gap.
"We're using so much ammunition in Iraq there isn't enough capacity around," said Eric Hugel, a defence industry analyst at Sephens Inc. "They have to go internationally."
Seems the Saudis needed all the 9mm ammo for celebrating with their Sterlings.
Thank you. That is a little better. Not much though. I can see the logic but still... call it a knee-jerk reaction from a black souled Adam Smith capitalist.
Bullet alert.
This article is talking about the UK not the US military.
BLOAT. (Should have listened to us)
Read post #24 before you go off on Rumsfeld.
Are you sure about that?
Oh, please. What are you going to do, stuff them in little tubes of extruded brass?
Dang kids. Flintlocks were good enough for me, but you guys gotta get fancy.
First, I didn't go off on anyone and second the US is mentioned several times in the article. The article, however, was written by the FT of London. ;->
Makes me contemplate if we should have gone to a 7.62 x 39 round. There is an ample supply to be taken from the enemy.
What I have to say about that would get me suspended. Grrrr.
The Government bans the private sector from owning military style firearms, the private sector stops producing military style ammo to sell to the private sector.
Actions have consequences.
The idiots in Congress don't understand that.
BPOTT (best post of the thread)
Lake City (in Independence, MO) makes small arms ammo, up to and including 20mm cannon.
I used to do some work out there. The place is amazing... The first time I walked through one of their 5.56mm production lines, I had just gotten my Dillon 550 reloading press, and while I was pretty good with it, seeing the machines they have out there was awe inspiring.
Interestingly enough, the 7.62 machines they've got out there have been modified from .30-06/WWII vintage, and are a bit slower than the newer machines, but (at least 10 years ago) they NEVER broke down.
Mark
Yep, bet we outsourced that too..
Huh? The article specifically mentions the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, which is in Independence, MO, and supplies the US military.
Mark
Here's an 'assault weapon ban' take on this.
If every family in America owned an AR-15 there would be plenty of privately owned manufacturers of .223 ammo to pick up the slack.
9mm ammo is in plentiful supply in America thanks to it's wide popularity. I buy 300-500 rounds a month.
You've never owned a Springfield Armory M1903 or M1 Garand have you? Some of the finest military produced rifles of their day. And the plants were darned efficient, too. At it's peak in WWII, SA was putting out almost 90,000 M1 Garands a month.
How hard is it to add a second or third shift ? The way you talk we should get rid of 'the current administration'.
The free market always fixes these things. I'm not sure why that's a hard concept to understand, but the handwringers and fingerpointers don't.
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