U.S. Army recognized need to modernize its ammo industrial base

ARLINGTON, Va., May 14 (UPI) -- It is ironic that the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia, while remaining so critical to the national security of the United States, is currently at great potential risk.

This is particularly the case in the period of reduced defense budgets that is likely to ensue as the current U.S. administration of President Barack Obama struggles with a still worsening economic and financial crisis that is potentially the worst the United States has faced since the Great Depression.

For many years, the U.S. Department of Defense did not make the proper investments in maintaining and modernizing the ammunition-manufacturing facility at Radford.

Failure to complete the modernization efforts that were begun after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, might result in a failure of critical production capabilities at Radford that could place the national security of the United States at risk.

Equally important, steps need to be taken to anticipate the move to new kinds of ammunition products and, in doing so, to develop a new business model for the Radford Army Ammunition Plant that will lower the costs of ammunition provided to war fighters.

Improvements to the ammunition supply chain for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are long overdue. Allowed to atrophy in the years following the end of the Cold War, the state of the ammunition industrial base was uncertain, at best, when the United States was confronted by new threats after Sept. 11. Since then, the U.S. Army and the private contractors managing the government-owned but contractor-operated ammunition manufacturers have collaborated to make substantial improvements to the ammunition industrial base.

Early in the effort to mobilize resources in response to the demands of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the U.S. Army recognized the need for a plan that addressed the deficiencies in the ammunition industrial base.

The Radford facility is unique in its ability to make nitrocellulose, an essential ingredient for propellants and explosives. There is no alternative domestic source for this material in the entire United States should any element in the process fail.

The Army's agent in charge of ammunition, the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition, has published the Industrial Base Strategic Plan: 2015, which laid out a long-term approach for rationalizing and upgrading the ammunition industrial base.

As part of this plan, the Army has made significant investments in the last seven and a half years in improvements to the ammunition industrial base across the United States.

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Part 10: How the U.S. Army has invested big in ammunition-plant modernization across the United States

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(Daniel Goure is vice president of the Lexington Institute, an independent think tank in Arlington, Va.)

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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)