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Army making significant strides in artillery production as fiscal year ends

By Army Public AffairsOctober 5, 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army awarded contracts worth $1.5 billion in the last two weeks of September to increase production capacity and inventory of 155-mm artillery munitions. Each artillery round is assembled from components manufactured across the country, including the projectile or case, bulk energetics, propellant, primer and a fuze. The awards resourced each major component, material or required production process to maintain momentum for the goal of 80,000 projectiles per month by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.

The awards procure 14.2 million pounds of bulk energetics (TNT and IMX-104), 270,000 primers, 678,000 fuses, 2.7 million Modular Artillery Charge System combustible cartridge cases, load assemble and pack of 1.6 million MACS propellant increments, and load assemble and pack of 451,000 M795/M1128 projectiles.

In addition to awards for production, the Army awarded Industrial base production capacity increases for M795 LAP, MACS CCCs and MACS propellant. Production capacity awards in the last two weeks of September include three multiyear procurement contracts for M1128 LAP and MACS LAP. In total for fiscal year 2023, the Army has awarded five MYP awards, with two previously awarded in August and early September for M1128 shell bodies and MACS metal containers.

The contracts were awarded by Army Contracting Centers in Rock Island, Illinois, and Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, to domestic companies in Tennessee (BAE Ordnance Systems Inc. and Security Signals Inc.), Pennsylvania (Action Manufacturing Co.), Arkansas (General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, and Day & Zimmerman), Iowa (American Ordnance LLC), and California (Armtec). Awards for work in international locations included Poland (NitroChem S.A.) India (Solar Industries India Limited) and Canada (IMT Defence).