joint munitions command (jmc) facilities provide unique ...€¦ · cient cartridge cases to meet...

66 JANUARY - MARCH 2008

ARMY AL&T

Joint Munitions Command (JMC) FacilitiesProvide Unique Capabilities Within its

Ammunition Industrial BaseDennis Dunlap

The Army relies on the private sector for 70 percent of DOD’s conventional ammuni-

tion requirements; the remaining 30 percent are provided by government-owned

ammunition plants and depots. Some plants, such as Radford Army Ammunition Plant

(AAP), VA, and Holston AAP, Kingsport, TN, are well-known. This article focuses on some of

the lesser known unique capabilities within the government-owned industrial base and how

those capabilities provide flexibility to support our Soldiers, often in ways that were never

imagined when the capabilities were developed.

CAAA produces the USN’s MJU-32/B decoy flares to protect aircraft from attack. CAAA has been producing illumination pyrotechnics forDOD since the 1940s. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of JMC.)

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Unique Needs Spur OngoingOperationsSome capabilities within the govern-ment-owned industrial base are trulyunique. Private industry could not af-ford to sustain them given the ups anddowns of defense munitions require-ments. Riverbank AAP in Riverbank,CA, for example, produces steel-drawncartridge cases used in the 105mmStryker mobile gun system and theU.S. Navy’s (USN’s) 5-inch gun am-munition. Although the plant isscheduled for closure, the capability is

so critical that JMC has laid out acomprehensive plan to stockpile suffi-cient cartridge cases to meet Soldiers’and Sailors’ requirements while theproduction line is being moved toRock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, IL,where JMC is headquartered.

Other capabilities are not unique, butserve a unique purpose. Crane ArmyAmmunition Activity (CAAA) inCrane, IN, has been producing pyro-technics for illumination since the1940s. In October 2001, when the

USN needed MJU-32/B decoy flaresto protect aircraft from attack, it waslogical to turn to CAAA. In a littleover 10 months, they were able to pro-duce an acceptable first article prod-uct. While there are several commer-cial producers available, the fact thatCAAA has this capability allows thegovernment to conduct low-rate initialproduction prior to technical datapackage (TDP) release and to ensurethat TDPs are fully acceptable forcompetitive procurement. This alsoreduces the cost of follow-on buys.

ARMY AL&T

67JANUARY - MARCH 2008


Diverse Missions Lead theWay to New TechnologyPine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) in Pine Bluff,AR, has diverse missions ranging fromdepot storage to chemical and biologicaldefense (CBD) equipment production.PBA’s production engineering lab,smoke test facilities, and chemical andphysical laboratories are integral to newmunition item development. PBA is akey producer of white and red phospho-rus rounds, pyrotechnics and trainingitems; and manufacturer of the M45protective mask, large filters and decont-amination kits used by Soldiers aroundthe world. PBA’s support of DOD’sCBD has led to broader involvementwith homeland security first-respondertraining, pre-positioned equipment sur-veillance and national weapons of massdestruction training center maintenancefor the American Red Cross.

The need to reduce environmental im-pacts has spurred new technology at

Anniston Defense Munitions Center(ADMC) in Anniston, AL, where amissile recycling center(MRC) is being im-plemented in threephases. Phase I estab-lished a disassemblyprocess for Tube-launched, Opticallytracked, Wire-guided(TOW) missiles.ADMC estimates that98 percent of missilehardware, warhead ex-plosives and propellantingredients can be re-claimed. Currently,TOW missile cases arebeing recycled andsold to the original equipment manu-facturer for reuse in new production.Other components are undergoing test-ing to determine reuse potential. PhaseII, a slurry explosives module, will in-corporate low-value energetic materials

and produce a mining explosive forcommercial use. Phase III, an energet-

ics processing module(EPM), is planned forstartup in 2008. TheEPM will reclaimhigh-value HMX (cy-clotetramethylene-tetranitramine), RDX(hexahydro-trinitro-triazine) and AP oxi-dizer ingredients incrude form withgreater than 99 per-cent purity. TheMRC technologiesshould be directly ap-plicable to the vastmajority of missiles in

the DOD and NATO inventories.

Demilitarization (Demil), Recovery and RenovationDemil capability exists across the am-munition industrial base. At McAlester


ARMY AL&T

MCAAP partners have

developed cost-effective

methods for recovery of

explosives like tritonal

and TNT that has

resulted in recovering 11

million pounds of tritonal

per year and more than

20 million pounds of

TNT for reuse in new

bomb production.

An 8” artillery projectile is placed in its carousel by an MCAAP explosive worker prior to being loweredinto an autoclave. The autoclave melts the TNT that will be sent through a process that returns theexplosive into its original form for reuse in other bombs. More than 20 million pounds of TNT have beenreclaimed since 2004. (U.S. Army photo by Jerri Mabray.)


AAP (MCAAP) in McAlester, OK, ca-pabilities include dis-assembly, autoclavemeltout and recoverywith technologies likerobotic and cryofrac-ture disassembly underdevelopment. MCAAPpartners with severalcommercial firmsdoing a wide variety ofdemil work. Together,they have developedcost-effective methodsfor recovery of explo-sives like tritonal andTNT that has resultedin recovering 11 mil-lion pounds of tritonalper year and morethan 20 millionpounds of TNT forreuse in new bomb production. TheDefense Ammunition Center (DAC),collocated at MCAAP,is currently developingthree capabilities for im-plementation into theU.S. Republic of KoreaDemil Facility — a unitto treat contaminatedsolid waste for projectilemeltout operations; aunit to treat contami-nated liquid waste; anda unit that converts mil-itary propellants intousable liquid fertilizer.

Hawthorne ArmyDepot in Hawthorne,NV, is home to theWestern Area DemilFacility (WADF), a$120 million complexwith a full range ofdemil capabilities in-cluding meltout,steamout, high-pressure washout,

decontamination furnaces and disassem-bly capabilities for im-proved conventionalmunitions. WADFhas a capacity to demil49,000 tons of ammu-nition per year.

Similarly, ammuni-tion renovation is acapability that existsthroughout theammo industrialbase. Renovation al-lows the Army to re-cover and extend thelife of ammunitionthat otherwise wouldhave become candi-dates for demil. Forexample, MCAAPand Blue Grass Army

Depot (BGAD) in Richmond, KY,have pioneered bomb maintenance

and renovation with complete thermalcoating and thermal arc spray capabil-ities that meet stringent U.S. AirForce (USAF) thermal arc coatingstandards. The “new” bombs have 41percent lower life-cycle maintenancecosts and a 20-year useful life exten-sion. BGAD has also developed ahigh-output renovation process for105mm howitzer ammunition, amuch needed capability since the105mm howitzer is the primary ar-tillery piece currently being used byour light forces.

Specialized Capabilities Sup-port Design, Manufacturing,Logistics Some capabilities emerge from theneed to maintain the depot itself. Forexample, MCAAP, the largest ammu-nition storage depot in DOD, also hasthe largest rail system in the Army.Over the years, MCAAP has developed

ARMY AL&T


JMC established the

MARID team to provide

direct ammunition logistics

support to Soldiers in the

field. Calling on ammo

expertise from throughout

the JMC depot system,

MCAAP deploys teams to

perform all aspects of

ammo life-cycle

management, including

maintenance, shipping,

receiving, inspection,

renovation and demil.

CAAA Project Engineer David Peel works on the new Armor Survivability Kitsfor HMMWVs. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of JMC.)


institutional expertise and capabilitiesfor efficient and effective rail mainte-nance that it now provides as a serviceto other facilities to generate revenue.

Another specialized capability atMCAAP is the design and manufactureof both wood and steel pallets. Themetal pallet facilitycan prototype, ma-chine, weld, fabricateand galvanize as manyas 2,000 pallets amonth. The woodpallet shop is equallyversatile. MCAAPhouses two of onlyfour heating chamberswithin DOD capableof destroying insects and pests in woodproducts meeting U.S. Department ofAgriculture, European Community and

United Nations requirements, makingMCAAP the supplier of choice for nu-merous DOD customers and vendorsthroughout the world.

JMC established the Mobile Ammuni-tion Renovation Inspection Demil(MARID) team to provide direct ammu-

nition logistics supportto Soldiers in the field.Calling on ammo ex-pertise from through-out the JMC depotsystem, MCAAP de-ploys teams to performall aspects of ammolife-cycle management,including mainte-nance, shipping, re-

ceiving, inspection, renovation anddemil. DAC also provides mobile train-ing teams to provide critical hazardous

materials (HAZMAT) training toDOD-deployed forces in Southwest Asia(SWA). A 2-instructor team spends 3months in theater, teaching students therules and regulations governing HAZ-MAT transport by land, sea or air.

DAC also serves as the Army’s HazardClassifier, coordinating actions withthe USN, USAF, Surface Deploymentand Distribution Command (SDDC),DOD Explosives Safety Board andDepartment of Transportation (DOT).DAC also operates and maintains theJoint Hazard Classification System onDOD’s behalf and serves as the Armyapprover for Explosives and ChemicalAgent Safety Site plans for operationsand storage.

Some of the equipment used by theMARID team comes from another JMC


ARMY AL&T

DAC engineers and the Cybernet Corp. developed the ATACS, an automated inspection/sorting machine for unlinked small arms ammunition (SAA). The ATACSefficiently sorts and inspects five types of SAA: 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 9mm, .45 and .50 caliber at a rate of 50,000 rounds per 8-hour period. Units are installed atCamp Arifjan, Kuwait, and Fort Irwin, CA, and more than 7 million rounds have been processed to date. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of JMC.)

DAC also serves as the

Army’s Hazard Classifier,

coordinating actions with

the USN, USAF, SDDC,

DOD Explosives Safety

Board and DOT.


facility, Tooele Army Depot (TEAD) inTooele, UT, as well as from DAC.These activities maintain a skilled staff ofengineers and machinists who develop,design, manufacture and field ammuni-tion peculiar equipment (APE) world-wide. There are more than 370 types ofAPE including deactivation furnaces,meltout systems and operational equip-ment that provide a safer environmentfor handling HAZMAT, many of whichhave been deployed in support of Opera-tions Enduring and Iraqi Freedom(OEF/OIF). Using their highly special-ized skills, the workforce at APE andTEAD have developed robotic vehiclesfor antipersonnel mine clearance, liftingtowers for security surveillance and com-munications systems used by both Sol-diers and homeland defense personnel.

In direct support to the warfighter,DAC developed an Automated TacticalAmmunition Classification System(ATACS) that is capable of sorting andclassifying 50,000rounds of mixed smallarms ammunitionfrom 5.56mmthrough .50 caliberper 8-hour shift, andhas processed 5 mil-lion rounds since spi-ral integration in 2004at Camp Arifjan,Kuwait. A secondATACS at the Na-tional Training Center,Fort Irwin, CA, hasprocessed 2 millionrounds since 2006. Athird ATACS is beingintegrated into the Desert OptimizedEquipment Workshop, and will providea transportable, self-contained work-shop for fielding to SWA.

Along with providing critical equipmentto the warfighter, DAC provides Jointservice ammunition-related training to

more than 35,000 military and civilianstudents annually. DAC also managesthe Army’s oldest ca-reer program, theQuality AssuranceSpecialist AmmunitionSurveillance, and theAmmunition Man-agers career program.Combined, these ca-reer programs providemore than 1,000 qual-ified civilians in thefield supportingwarfighters. DACproduces the YellowBook, formally knownas the Hazard Classifi-cation of United States Military Explosivesand Munitions, to help Soldiers in thefield who don’t have ready access to official information sources.

CAAA has developed a niche in repair of20-foot shipping containers that are es-

sential to the Army’slogistics support. Ap-plying Lean Six Sigmato develop productionprocesses allows CAAAto deliver high-qualityproducts at competi-tive prices. CAAA isalso renovating itemssuch as dummy noseplugs, metal palletsand other types ofshipping containers.CAAA’s machiningcenter supports all ofthese operations with afull complement of

modern computer numerically controlledmachinery as well as paint, plating andpowder coating capabilities.

Unique Expertise Supportsthe WarfighterThe existence of these unique capabili-ties makes it possible for the Army to

respond quickly to urgent Soldier re-quests. For example, the rapid manu-

facture of armor sur-vivability kits forHigh-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Ve-hicles (HMMWVs)early on in OEF/OIFwas done at CAAA.As the improvised ex-plosive device threatgrew, CAAA andTEAD were bothcalled upon to pro-duce armored cabs forM939 series trucks.In FY02, DAC devel-oped AMMOHELP,

an informational database that answersquestions on any aspect of ammunitionand explosives management, operationsand use. Questions can be submittedby e-mail, phone or through the DACWeb page at www3.dac.army.mil. Allresponses are provided by subject mat-ter experts, and more than 3,800 ques-tions have been received and answeredsince the program began.

These are just a few examples of thediverse and unique capabilities thatexist within the ammunition industrialbase to support and protect ourwarfighters. The ammo industrial basetouches Soldiers around the worldevery day with capabilities that extendfar beyond the basics of ammunitionproduction, storage and maintenance.

DENNIS DUNLAP is Director, Indus-trial Support, within JMC’s Munitions Lo-gistics Readiness Center. He has workedin positions related to the Army industrialbase for most of his 28 years of federalgovernment service. Previously, Dunlapwas the Director, Enterprise Transforma-tion, at the U.S. Army Tank-automotiveand Armaments Command Industrial BaseOperations Directorate.

ARMY AL&T


DAC developed an

ATACS that is capable of

sorting and classifying

50,000 rounds of mixed

small arms ammunition

from 5.56mm through

.50 caliber per 8-hour

shift, and has processed 5

million rounds since

spiral integration in 2004

at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

DAC provides Joint service

ammunition-related

training to more than

35,000 military and

civilian students annually.

These career programs

provide more than 1,000

qualified civilians in the

field supporting

warfighters.


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