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| U.S. ammunition plant reaching its limit |
| 2004-01-12 |
| FORT BELVOIR, Va. — The U.S. military’s only plant making small-arms ammunition is running at near capacity, 4 million rounds a day, and the United States still is forced to look overseas and to the recreational industry for ammunition for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and those training to deploy there soon. Gen. Paul Kern, commander of the Army Materiel Command, said Friday that giving those units priority ensured they had enough small-arms ammunition. "Everyone else will have to pay the price" and wait for it, he said. The increased demand for ammunition for combat shooting and intensified training has made deep inroads in the nation’s war reserves of ammunition, Kern said. The sole plant making small-arms ammunition, the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., is running three eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week. The plant provides 5.56 mm rifle, 7.62 mm and .50 caliber machine gun as well as 9 mm pistol cartridges for all branches of the military. EFL. Does this make sense? How are we burning through four million rounds a day? I suspect supplies are not going to the shooters first, but to the REMF’s. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #12 Oh, well. We'll use the grenades instead... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-1-12 10:08:05 PM |
| #11 Somebody needs to drop a dime to Kim Du Toit. I am sure he would be willing to part with some of his supply for the right price... |
| Posted by: Carl in NH 2004-1-12 9:08:44 PM |
| #10 That's like far-out, Daddy-o! |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-1-12 7:02:57 PM |
| #9 That's outer space. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-1-12 3:54:11 PM |
| #8 Dear Mohammed, You supply the jihadis, we supply the lead. Now why hasn't the Kabaa been blown back into out space. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-1-12 3:41:49 PM |
| #7 Why is this needed? It says why right in the article--to replenish the war reserves. We're not burning through 4M rounds a day; we're restocking to pre-war levels. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-12 3:26:17 PM |
| #6 The US needs to whip up some extra loud, extra manly-kick celebration-rounds, something with no metal, perhaps a wax round or something. Perhaps even tracer.... trade the population 1 for 1 war-round. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-12 3:13:40 PM |
| #5 Iraqi police ululation practice and graduation ceremonies are probably good for 1 million a day... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2004-1-12 12:49:24 PM |
| #4 Meanwhile, back on Mars... |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-1-12 12:09:05 PM |
| #3 Building inventory for next action? |
| Posted by: Steve Yao 2004-1-12 10:58:11 AM |
| #2 A lot of rounds get squeezed off in training, especially if we're sending troops into a combat zone. And that's a good thing, we don't want troops to get over there and find out their -16 doesn't work. I'd imagine for some of the service and support guys, it's their first chance since basic to put some rounds through their rifles, same for the reserve and guard. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-12 10:58:03 AM |
| #1 We could save some dough by switching over to AK-47 and shooting up the Iraqi stockpile... probably have enough left over to supply the forces in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-12 10:15:04 AM |