https://www.voanews.com/a/without-mo...s/7510881.html
From the above article:
To quickly replenish U.S. stockpiles and keep up with demand for shells in Ukraine, the Pentagon set out to expand American production capacity from about 14,000 units per month before Russia’s invasion to 100,000 rounds per month in 2025.
“Without additional supplemental funding, we cannot achieve our goal,” a U.S. Defense Department official told VOA.
I suppose I must not be as much of a manufacturing expert as I thought I was. I am very confused, this was an article about the challenge of keeping up with 155mm shell demand. How does the Pentagon "Expand American production capacity.?" It appears the Army does assemble the components, but those components are made by defense contractors. The Army has enough supply of soldiers to send and train to munitions plants to assemble shell components.
What does additional supplemental funding mean? Does that mean the government fronts the investment capital to expand production? Working for the man I have only worked at second tier defense contractors. The ones I worked at could on average expand capacity 50%+ without spending a dime in capital equipment by running the plant 24-7. I would assume a defense contractor pays for their own capital equipment, not the government, the article seems to imply otherwise.
Anyone know the answer? All the people I knew that worked white collar jobs at first tier defense contractors are long since past. Machinery to make 155mm shells aren't anything special, I could damn near make one
if they were about an inch shorter, in a podunk machine shop of all places.
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