The U.S. Army has doubled the number of 155mm artillery shells it produces in response to war in Ukraine and Israel. After upgrading facilities, modernizing, and automating processes, Army plants are now building 28,000 shells per month, and have hopes to eventually get that number up to 100,000 a month to meet global demands.
Last year, the U.S. military transferred two million 155 artillery shells to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion.
The production currently works is that steel is shipped from Ohio to two production facilities in Pennslyvania, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, and another in Wilkes-Barre. These plants mill the steel into shells which are then transported to the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant where they are filled with explosives and propellents manufactured in the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia or at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee.
Currently, the Army is looking to build additional production facilities. "Which is what you want in the ammunition production world," explained Doug Bush who is the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. "You don’t want one building being the single point of failure."
A new factory is being built in Texas and an addition contract was awarded to a company in Canada. Two new facilities to put the explosives in the 155 rounds are being established in Kansas and Arkansas.
In order to reach the 100,000 rounds per month goal, it will require an 3.1 billion dollars in additional funding that has been requested by President Biden's fiscal year 2024 emergency supplemental funding which is now before Congress for approval.
