INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Alliant Techsystems Operations, in partnership with Lake City Ammunition Plant, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on a refurbished ammunition production facility, here, Dec. 2.
The ceremony marked the upgrade and re-location of the production of 20 mm ammunition into an underutilized facility owned by the U.S. Army.
"This ceremony is the culmination of a winning situation for the Lake City plant, ATK, and the military services," said Chris Grassano, chief of staff, Program Executive Officer, Ammunition.
Under the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support program, the government will save taxpayer money by using the new facility to meet the needs of a commercial tenant while retaining 20 mm production at the plant.
The ARMS program is authorized by Congressional legislation, to encourage the commercial and government use of unused property at select Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated locations, in order to compensate for reduced production volumes and facility closures that would otherwise have an adverse impact on local communities.
"The renovations are a great achievement and we are so proud of being able to have a new ARMS tenant in this building," said Debbie Hookway, Project Director, Joint Services office, ARMS. "We worked very closely with ATK, making sure that ARMS could contribute a good investment into the building, and to ensure the upgrades were accomplished properly."
The new partnership establishes a 10-year agreement with ATK to use the refurbished building after upgrades, to meet modern code requirements and current regulations.
The original building was completed by the U.S. government in December 1953. Twenty millimeter operations moved to another building in late 1997, where portions of the operations resumed.
"As you will see during your tour of the facility, this building was up to the task in 1953 and will soon be home to high quality ammunition production once again," concluded Grassano.
As a result of the new production facility, LCAAP will retain critical manpower and technical skills to support the Army's industrial base.
"The significance of this project to Missouri is that we are able to save many jobs, as well as giving the military a full production capability that is unique and pertinent to the Army and all services," said Jack Figg, ATK director for commercial development and community affairs, and LCAAP ARMS program manager.
Lake City Ammunition Plant is an industrial base facility managed by the Joint Munitions Command. LCAAP conducts contract oversight and provides small and medium-caliber munitions to Joint Military Forces. It also operates the North Atlantic Treaty Organization test center.
JMC produces small-, medium- and large-caliber ammunition items for the Department of Defense. JMC is the logistics integrator for life-cycle management of ammunition and provides a global presence of technical support to U.S. combat units wherever they are stationed or deployed. JMC's logistics operation is unique to the DoD and its industrial base is important to supporting the Warfighter.
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