US Army running out of ammo, seeks bullets from foreigners.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

OUTSOURSING AMERICA

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/21194.php

The U.S. Army said it will seek bullets from commercial and foreign producers because its biggest ammunition supplier, Alliant Techsystems Inc., can't keep up with demand.

"The hope is to get it from the U.S., but worldwide suppliers are out there that provide this and it might not be totally available in the U.S.," said Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Butler, Army product manager for small- and medium-caliber ammunition.

Edina, Minnesota-based Alliant Friday said demand is rising to its highest level since the Vietnam War.

To make up for the shortage, the Army recently awarded contracts to state-owned Israel Military Industries Ltd. and Olin Corp.'s Winchester unit, each for 70 million rounds, Butler said in a telephone interview. He said he couldn't disclose the value of the contracts.

The Army wants to buy about 1.4 billion bullets this year and have the capacity for 2 billion rounds a year, Butler said. That is more than Alliant can make, and there are few other companies that can make military ammunition on such a large scale. The Army plans to seek a company able to coordinate production of as much as 500 million rounds by a number of smaller producers, Butler said.

"The strategy now going forward is to go through an integrator or someone who brings all that worldwide capacity together for us," said Butler, 41. "I don't think there is anyone out there who could do it and make U.S. ammo."


MORE....

[Az_lefty]

1. Another example of how BushCo...

was totally unprepared for his adventure into Iraq.

[opihimoimoi]

4. And right there in Brownsville is ONE BIG LOCK & LOAD .."AMMO R US"

Produces 500 000 000 rounds per hour, any caliber, U spec um, we load um.

MRE's: Come and get the best MRE s in town... We got ribs from Tony Romas, L&L Beef Stew or teri chicken, and from Stuart Andersons, prime ribs with baked potatos with smoked salmon. Forget those issued MREs, they are stale guys...

Come, we go order.....

[Generic Other]

2. Why don't they mobilize the rightwing militias in this country?

They ought to have enough ammo to finish the job.

Oh, I forgot, these guys are all the chickenhawks. They just shoot bullets at paper targets or the occasional targetted minority. They run like hell when folks shoot back!

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Outsourced ammo to china next?

China has purchased much of the USA's surplus machine tools and equipment. The USA simply can't produce these things in quantity anymore because the factories and equipment no longer exist.

[PaDUer]

5. Again? This is the

second time we've seen a report like this in the past couple of months.

[LittleApple81]

6. WHY DO THEY NEED SO MANY BULLETS? We have a peace pResident now.

Iraq is free, little girls can go to school in Afghanistan...where are the bullets going?

[Moderator]

7. Duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=701567