ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- The Joint Munitions Command headquarters hosted the Conventional Ammunition Program's Objective Memorandum budget review with Department of the Army senior leaders, here, January 10 to 12.
The program review was chaired by Bobby Ransom, Headquarters, Department of the Army, G-8 office, Munitions Branch, Focused Logistics Division, Force Development Directorate.
Brig. Gen. Richard B. Dix, JMC commander, welcomed attendees and asked them to review ammo products managed by JMC to best synchronize the Army's future requirements. What happens at this review is "critical" to support the Army's priorities.
"We've got to be ready to provide that Warfighter the lethality that you've got to have at the tip of the spear," said Dix.
The task of the annual budget review was to perform a line-by-line perspective of approximately 460 ammunition assets, to build the program objective memorandum, by predicting the funds needed for fiscal years 2019 to 2023.
Attendees included senior leaders and subject matter experts from Department of the Army's G3/4/8 staff; Army Materiel Command staff; Program Managers of Close Combat Systems; Product Director of Joint Products; Combat Ammunition Systems representatives; Maneuver Ammunition Systems; and, JMC requirements planning teams.
The review was hosted by Dan Brown, Director of JMC's Demand Planning and the Requirements Planning Division staff. The review is the forum for the Joint Munitions Command inventory managers and PEO ammo product managers to present current inventory requirements and emerging considerations to support the Total Army Munitions requirements.
"The ammunition portfolio review provides the Army G-8 and our strategic partners in the ammunition enterprise an opportunity to ensure the Army's conventional ammunition program investment strategy remains aligned to support a balanced, rotational-focused, and surge-ready force while adjusting programs to the new fiscal environment," said Bobby Ransom.
The importance of each participant's input during the review provided assistance in the decision making process as Department of the Army G-8 prepares to align funding with the Army G-3 office for approved Total Army Munitions requirements. The funding supports ammunition requirements for the Army, which also includes warfighting reserve, as well as training and test ammunition requirements. The review brought all of the senior leaders and program managers together in one room to develop solutions to continued declining budgets with which the ammunition enterprise confronts.
In addition, information such as the ammunition stockpile status, potential effects on inventory, supplemental funding, foreign military sales and industrial base concerns were addressed to determine the best possible decisions to support program funding requests.
"There are things that we need to discuss in the next few days," concluded Dix. He mentioned that planning for future ammunition requirements is an important aspect of the Army's readiness. "We've got to have some critical thinking and hard analysis." He also noted there are possible worldwide conflicts that JMC must be prepared to support, in a short period of time, if an increase in ammunition production is requested.
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. The primary mission of JMC is to manage the production, storage, issue, and demilitarization of conventional ammunition for all U.S. Military Services.
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