U.S. Army orders tank rounds

MINNEAPOLIS, March 11 (UPI) -- Alliant Techsystems of Minnesota has received a $54 million order for 120mm training tank ammunition from the U.S. Army.

The order is the fourth year of a four-year contract.

The 120mm training ammunition, used by the M1A1/A2 Abrams main battle tank, includes the M865 kinetic energy and the M1002 multi-purpose anti-tank training rounds. The training rounds closely replicate tactical ammunition in appearance and ballistic performance.

"High-quality training ammunition is essential to the warfighter who must be prepared to react decisively on today's battlefield," said Bruce DeWitt, ATK Advanced Weapons vice president and general manager. "By leveraging our expertise in tactical 120mm tank ammunition, we have produced rounds that are visually and ballistically similar to their counterpart tactical rounds while meeting the reliability and safety performance requirements for use on U.S. and European ranges."

Alliant Techsystems has delivered more than 4 million rounds of 120mm tactical and training tank ammunition since 1980 to the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and allied militaries.