Army adds second ammo maker

[Gabby Hayes]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050823/dctu059.html?.v=16

U.S. Army Small-Caliber Ammo Award Establishes General Dynamics As Second Source for Critical Small-Caliber Ammunition

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 23 -- The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Illinois, has awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, a five-year contract to supply small-caliber ammunition to the U.S. armed forces. The initial award under the contract is for $171 million for approximately 300 million rounds. The contract has a total potential value of approximately $1.2 billion if all options are exercised.

This contract establishes General Dynamics as a second-source prime contractor for the production of various types of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber ammunition. The company is already a leading supplier of medium- and large-caliber ammunition and bomb bodies to U.S. forces.

This award will expand the U.S. Defense Dept.'s small-caliber production base without incurring additional expense for upgrades to the existing government-owned, contractor-operated infrastructure. Members of the General Dynamics team are already filling emergency small-caliber ammunition orders for the U.S. government. Through this program, General Dynamics will serve as a flexible second source to quickly respond to growing demands in small- caliber ammunition for up to 500 million rounds per year.

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[See link for complete article.]

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, that's interesting. I didn't know Gendye owned an ammo plant, but see that they do own St Marks (ex Primex, ex Winchester) powder plant and are in bed with Winchester and IMI.

 

[TarpleyG]

$171 million for approximately 300 million rounds

That's $.57 per round Doesn't the gubmint ever see these people coming and at least cram in some vaseline first? I pay about $.18 per round and I don't buy anywhere near 300 million rounds at a time. Hell, with bulk like that, they ought to be paying a nickel a piece for them. This is our hard earned tax dollars at work folks.

Greg

 

[NoHarmNoFAL]

That's $.57 per round Doesn't the gubmint ever see these people coming and at least cram in some vaseline first? I pay about $.18 per round and I don't buy anywhere near 300 million rounds at a time. Hell, with bulk like that, they ought to be paying a nickel a piece for them. This is our hard earned tax dollars at work folks.

Greg

__________________

Do you pay that for tracer, and 7.62 AP and 50 Cal APIT?

 

[Technosavant]

Some of that is .50 BMG ammo. I am thinking you won't be able to find rounds of that for 57 cents each.

Yeah, it looks like a rip, but what are the exact breakdowns?

 

[enfield]

There's probably some tooling and/or facility (bricks and mortar) money in that $171M.

 

[SoundWave]

Also rembember that these 300 million rounds have to be stored in adiquate containers and shipped to specified locations.

 

[Billll]

...and papered, and pedigreed.
Q: Is there waste, fraud, and abuse in this contract?
A: Of course there is. It's specified in the boilerplate part of the contract, and was a required item in the RFQ. What kind, how much, the whole bit.

Usta work in aerospace.

 

[scout26]

Wow, and the cleanup is just about done at the former Joliet Army Ammuntion plant.......

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Is General Dynamics going to make ammo? It sounds like they'll just be a coordinating contractor. So the actual ammo could be Indonesian, Israeli, no matter. If they use IMI is a subcontracting producer, they can just specify a headstamp that means "Not Israeli, Not Kosher, OK to shoot at Islamics".

$171 for 300 rounds doesn't seem to be that great a deal. Govt buyers could have done better at ammoman.com. Gotta figure that almost all will be 7.62 or 5.56, small percentage is .50.

It is encouraging, however, that the military considers .50BMG ammo to be classified as "small calibre". Not a WMD.

Regards.

 

[Preacherman]

I wonder if this is linked in any way to the news that the US is to buy ammo from Taiwan? Perhaps the Taiwanese factory will be a sub-contractor to GD? (See here for news of the Taiwan deal.)

 

[Kharn]

The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Illinois, has awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, a five-year contract to supply small-caliber ammunition to the U.S. armed forces.

Pretty soon, if GD keeps going the way they're doing business, they'll own the entire defense industry in the US. For example, the Strykers started off with something on the order of 10-15 vendors making the parts. GD has bought them all out to the point that I think the only two they dont own are Michellin, who makes the tires, and Catepillar, who makes the engine.

Kharn

 

[El Tejon]

Am I the only one thinking about how beautiful 300 million rounds all stacked together would be? Gleaming, sparkling, begging to be shot, mine, alllll mine.

 

[Preacherman]

Now, El T... just relax... put down that AR15 and have a nice, soothing mint julep. Besides, I got there first, and the ammo's mine!

 

[JohnKSa]

I pay about $.18 per round and I don't buy anywhere near 300 million rounds at a time.

You also don't:

Buy a wide variety of 5.56, 7.62, & .50 BMG ammo including tracers, AP, ball, etc.

Rigorously specify every aspect of the ammunition including exact bullet construction and metallurgy, powder specifications, accuracy, shelf-life, etc.

Exhaustively test the resulting ammunition on delivery and reject large lots if it fails thus obligating the ammunition supplier to replace it at their cost.

Require that the ammo be delivered in water-tight, air-tight containers and specify the humidity content of the air in the containers.

Set forth rigid delivery deadlines which will cost the supplier penalties if not met.

Send representatives to the manufacturer to insure manufacturing specifications are followed.

Hold the threat of huge cash penalties or jail time over your supplier in the event that any of the testing you specify is not carefully carried out, or if there is any intent or attempt to falsify the "advertised" performance of the ammunition.

People who think the government overpays don't realize what a demanding customer it is...

 

[rayra]

Well about friggin' time. Only FOUR YEARS into a world-wide Shooting War. Surprised some jihadist saboteurs hadn't struck our SINGLE plant by now.