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."
I said no such thing. I just said that, having been in office for 3.5 years, the current administration shares some of the blame. To place all the blame of clintoon isn't truthful, not I didn't say he did not share in the blame just that he wasn't the only one responsible. And last time I check, President Bush didn't ok ammo orders, someone lower in the Military does. THEY should be brought to task.
It just seems wrong.
Maybe so, but it's traditional. Most bombs and other heavy stuff is made in government owned factories even today. Oh the guidance equipment and so forth are made by private industry, but the ordance part is made in government owned factories. The same holds for missles, motars and so forth. The famous M-1 Garand was a product of a government Arsenal (and John Garand worked for the government), as was the follow on M-14. Of course the M-1 Carbine was not, nor was the M-16. During WW-II much of the production was done by private industy, including many that had never been involved in making guns or ammunition before. Prior WW-I, most of the military small arms, and the big guns too, were made in government owned arsenals. Harper's Ferry in Virgina for example, or Springfield in Massachusetts for example. The big overhall and modification depots of the Air Force (Air Logistics Centers) are government owned factories for all practical purposes, although more of the support work in now done by contractors than was the case 30 years ago.
Only the practice ammo, not the war reserve stuff.
Now that is a great idea, which is why it will never happen, at least not in the public schools.
My M-1 was build by International Harvester, and my M-16 was build by GM.
Aircraft companies such as Lockheed, Boeing, Sikorsky, etc., lease the facilities and equipment from the government to produce the aircraft.
I'm interpreting "1.2m" as 1.2 million. Shouldn't this be 1.2 billion?
I will give up my private stock of .223 ammo to the Military providing each bullet ends up residing in the torso or head of a terrorist.
Army should get a Sportsmans Guide catalog (10% off on ammo with membership card).
The Same Company>>>Alliant Techsystems,Inc.
Lots of cool military products.
It used to be Honeywell's Defense Systems Group.
Thus, ammo companies had no motivation to build the infrastructure to make as much as a single round more than the military had contracted for that year. And even that was risky as funding from year-to-year is always at the mercy of Congress and politics comes into play.
Any extra ammo had to be stockpiled somewhere (which costs $$$$) since they couldn't sell it to American citizens.
Well, it's really not a "free market" when your market is artificially restricted by government edicts.
You don't see the correlation between stupid gun laws and military gear shortages ? Believe this, the last administration did everything it could to DESTROY this country.
Dammed thing was only good for making sure you didn't get captured alive anyway :->
Try Beretta, not FN.
I'm suggesting that it's all relative in a capitalistic environment despite the government edicts.
Unless you were a Brit which now makes sense after I posted!
This situation is at least six months old. Unbelievable that it hasn't been addressed yet.
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