{"id":1918413,"date":"2023-04-23T22:28:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T02:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/unprepared-for-long-war-us-army-under-gun-to-make-more-ammo\/"},"modified":"2023-04-23T22:30:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T02:30:16","slug":"unprepared-for-long-war-us-army-under-gun-to-make-more-ammo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/unprepared-for-long-war-us-army-under-gun-to-make-more-ammo\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Army is feeling the heat as they scramble to produce more ammunition for the long haul of war. With their current stockpile running low, they find themselves unprepared for the battle ahead. It&#8217;s a race against time as they work tirelessly to keep up with the demand for ammo. Will they be able to keep up? Only time will tell."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">124<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Funprepared-for-long-war-us-army-under-gun-to-make-more-ammo%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1918413&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"RichTextArticleBody-body\">\n<p><span class=\"ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter\">S<\/span>CRANTON, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Did you know that one of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania? This factory, built by coal barons, is where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can\u2019t get enough of \u2014 and that the U.S. can\u2019t produce fast enough. <\/p>\n<p>The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the forefront of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment not only to support Ukraine, but to be ready for a potential conflict with China. <\/p>\n<p>But it is one of just two sites in the U.S. that make the steel bodies for the critical 155 mm howitzer rounds that the U.S. is rushing to Ukraine to help in its grinding fight to repel <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine?utm_source=apnewsnav&#038;utm_medium=featured\">the Russian invasion<\/a> in the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II. <\/p>\n<p>The invasion of Ukraine revealed that the U.S. <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ukraine-war-us-munitions-stockpiles-0d38850603f4264b7568d63d6e7e3d93\">stockpile<\/a> of 155 mm shells and those of European allies were unprepared to support a major and ongoing conventional land war, sending them scrambling to bolster production. The dwindling supply has alarmed U.S. military planners, and the Army now plans to spend billions on munitions plants around the country in what it calls its most significant transformation in 40 years. <\/p>\n<p>It may not be easy to adapt: practically every square foot of the Scranton plant\u2019s red brick factory buildings \u2014 first constructed more than a century ago as a locomotive repair depot \u2014 is in use as the Army clears space, expands production to private factories and assembles new supply chains. <\/p>\n<p>There are some things that Army and plant officials in Scranton won\u2019t reveal, including where they get the steel for the shells and exactly how many more rounds this factory can produce. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what Russia wants to know,\u201d said Justine Barati of the U.S. Army\u2019s Joint Munitions Command. <\/p>\n<p>So far, the U.S. has provided more than $35 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine. <\/p>\n<p>The 155 mm shell is one of the most often-requested and <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ukraine-russia-war-security-aid-billions-e02b957dc15fcb1004bf54a2232c1f5e\">supplied items,<\/a> which also include air defense systems, long-range missiles and tanks. <\/p>\n<p>The rounds, used in howitzer systems, are critical to Ukraine\u2019s fight because they allow the Ukrainians to hit Russian targets up to 20 miles (32 kilometers) away with a highly explosive munition. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, we understand that the production is very limited and it\u2019s been more than a year of war,\u201d Ukraine parliamentary member Oleksandra Ustinova said at a German Marshall Fund media roundtable in Washington on Monday. \u201cBut unfortunately we are very dependent on 155.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month. <\/p>\n<p>Already, the U.S. military has given Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition, according to Army figures. <\/p>\n<div id=\"dsk-banner-ad-g\"><\/div>\n<p>But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day. In other words, two days\u2019 worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United States\u2019 monthly pre-war production figure. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis could become a crisis. With the front line now mostly stationary, artillery has become the most important combat arm,\u201d said a January report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, the metal bodies for the 155 mm shells are made at the Army\u2019s Scranton plant, operated by General Dynamics, and at a General Dynamics-owned plant in nearby Wilkes-Barre, officials say. <\/p>\n<p>Together, the plants are under contract for 24,000 shells per month, with an additional $217 million Army task order to further boost production, although officials won\u2019t say how many more 155 mm shells are sought by the task order. <\/p>\n<p>The Russians are firing 40,000 shells per day, said Ustinova, who serves on Ukraine\u2019s wartime oversight committee. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019re doing five times less than they do and trying to keep it up. But if we don\u2019t start the production lines, if you don\u2019t warm it up, it is going to be a huge problem,\u201d Ustinova said. <\/p>\n<p>The obstacles the U.S. faces in ramping up production can be seen at the Scranton plant. <\/p>\n<p>The factory \u2014 built for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad just after 1900, when the city was a rising coal and railroad powerhouse \u2014 has produced large-caliber ammunition for the military going back to the Korean War. <\/p>\n<p>But the buildings are on the National Historic Registry of Historic Places, limiting how the Army can alter the structures. <\/p>\n<p>Inside, the floor is crowded with piles of shells, defunct equipment and production lines where robotic arms, saws, presses and other machines cut, heat, forge, temper, pressure test, wash and paint the shells. <\/p>\n<p>The plant is in the midst of $120 million in modernization plans and the Army hopes to open a new production line there by 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Still, clearing space for it has been a complicated task while the military adds newer machinery to make existing lines more efficient. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on,\u201d said Richard Hansen, the Army commander\u2019s representative at the plant. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Army is expanding supply chains for parts \u2014 metal shells, explosive fill, charges that shoot the shell and fuses \u2014 and buying the massive machines that do the work. <\/p>\n<p>The Army has new contracts with plants in Texas and Canada to make 155 mm shells, said Douglas Bush, an assistant Army secretary and its chief weapons buyer. The U.S. is also looking overseas to allies to expand production, Bush said. <\/p>\n<p>Once the shells are finished in Scranton, they are shipped to the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where they are packed with explosives, fitted with fuses and packaged for final delivery. <\/p>\n<p>The Scranton plant is ill-suited for that task: an accident with an explosive could be devastating. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we had a mishap here,\u201d Hansen said, \u201cwe take half of the city with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) \u2014 One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can\u2019t get enough of \u2014 and that the U.S. can\u2019t produce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1918414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[4712,8408,19417,4367,6731,7559,4368,15036,18222,4060,6550,11239,5905,5069,6495,21059,25007,6127,5073,25006,16163,7552,6696],"class_list":["post-1918413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-ahead","tag-ammo","tag-ammunition","tag-army","tag-battle","tag-current","tag-demand","tag-feeling","tag-haul","tag-heat","tag-its","tag-low","tag-produce","tag-race","tag-running","tag-scramble","tag-stockpile","tag-tell","tag-time","tag-tirelessly","tag-unprepared","tag-up","tag-war"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1918414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}