ASC CG, CSM tour Missouri ammunition plant

Maj. Gen. John Wharton, commanding general, U.S. Army Sustainment Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., toured facilities at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant located in Independence, Mo.

Accompanying Wharton was ASC Command Sgt. Maj. James Spencer. The visit was in early December.

LCAAP, located 34 miles east of Kansas City, was established in December 1940. It was the first of 12 small arms plants run by the Army, its organizational website states. It is commanded by Lt. Col. Lawrence Cannon.

The plant reports to the Joint Munitions Command, headquartered at RIA. Both ASC and JMC fall under the Army Materiel Command. AMC's mission is to develop and deliver global readiness solutions to sustain Unified Land Operations, anytime, anywhere.

LCAAP supports this by conducting contract oversight and providing quality small caliber munitions to the warfighter and operates the North American Regional Test Center.

LCAAP can produce small arms cartridges, components such as percussion and electric primer, pyrotechnics, small-caliber ammunition (5.56 mm; 7.62 mm; .50- caliber and 20 mm), demilitarization and disposal of small caliber ammunition and explosives, and perform reliability testing of small-caliber ammunition (5.56 mm; 7.62 mm; 9 mm; .22-caliber; .45-caliber; and .50-caliber).