(TargetLiberty.org) – The Wall Street Journal in a new report noted that the Pentagon is intending to use $6 billion to start producing more weapons domestically by revamping a Texas facility that is the leader in the manufacturing of munitions.
The goal is for domestic output to increase from 30,000 155 mm shells per month to around 100,000 by 2025. At the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. had only been producing approximately 14,000 such shells, which weigh around 100 pounds each and are about 2 feet long.
The Mesquite, Texas facility is only one of the U.S. facilities that have increased domestic weapon production. In Arkansas the Lockheed Martin facility has increased its production of rockets and the Harris Technologies facility has further expanded its rocket motor plant.
The Texas plant is for the most part automated, with only 27 machine operators currently employed. The majority of the 400 employees planned for the facility are going to be predominantly handling the computer-controlled equipment. However, while domestic manufacturing in Texas might be increasing, the presses being used are constructed in Turkey and the robots in Germany.
The steel-shell cases being produced are then taken to Iowa at an Army plant, while the casings are made in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. After the completion of the 155 mm shells, they are immediately shipped to Ukraine or to Army warehouses.
The Pentagon has shifted its policy which is now seeking to have the majority of munition produced locally.
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