Army turns to Olin Corp. for small caliber ammo

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Olin Corporation was awarded a contract from the U.S. Army for 5.56mm and 7.62mm small caliber ammunition cartridges.

The deal, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $43.3 million under a fixed-price with economic price adjustment modified contract.

Specifically, the contract taps the Winchester Division of the Olin Corporation out of Illinois to produce 5.56mm and 7.62mm small caliber ammunition cartridges for the Army.

Small caliber ammunition is classified as rounds that are .50 caliber and below.

The 5.56 mm cartridge is used in the different variants of the M16 Rifle, to include the M4 Carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon that can fire either a 30-round magazine or a 100 or 200 round drum -- the Marine Corps new M27 Individual Automatic Rifle fires 5.56 mm cartridges as well.

For 7.62 mm ammunition cartridges, different variants of the Army's M240 Machine Gun, in addition to the Remington-made M24 Sniper Weapon System; the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System; and M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle are capable of firing 7.62 mm ammunition cartridges.

Work locations on the contract and funding will be determined by the U.S. Army Contracting Command with each order request.

The contract is expected to be completed by July 2019, according to the Pentagon press release.