SCRANTON ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT, Scranton, Pa. - Brig. Gen. Michelle Letcher, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC), visited JMC's specialized metal projectile plant, Scranton Army Ammunition Plant (SCAAP), in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, October 9, 2019. The visit was part of her quarterly review of Kentucky-based Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD), of which SCAAP is a subordinate command. The focus of this visit was to discuss the important work being done by BGAD and its subordinate installations in support of Industrial Base Readiness and Multi-Domain Operations (MDO).
During her visit, the JMC Commanding General was provided a first-hand look of how the Scranton facility is optimizing it operations in support of munitions readiness, as well as its focus under the Army's MDO concept.
"JMC's primary mission is munitions readiness as aligned with the Army's top priorities," said Letcher. "Beyond the ability to provide lethality that wins at the speed of war, we must ensure that our Joint Warfighters get quality ammo at the right time and place, but also that we can respond to every emerging need by maximizing our surge capacity. JMC is focused on modernizing and optimizing industrial base operations for greater effectiveness and efficiencies to meet those priorities"
The Army positioned the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), JMC's higher headquarters, to lead logistics, sustainment and materiel capabilities in support of the MDO concept.
"At its core, MDO is about the Joint Force preparing for large scale, sustainable combat across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace," said Letcher. "AMC is actively supporting our efforts to ensure our arsenals, depots and ammunitions plants are brought into the information age."
As a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) installation, SCAAP has more than 56 years of continuous operations located on a 15-acre historical locomotive production facility opened in the early 1900s near downtown Scranton.
Hosting the visit was the BGAD Commander, Col. Joseph Kurz and Mr. Rich Hansen, Kurz's on-site Command Representative. Also present were representatives of General Dynamics - Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS), the operating contractor.
"Scranton is a unique production facility," says Hansen. "Our forging and production capabilities are found nowhere elsewhere in our military industrial base. We're very proud of our long and accomplished history of providing large and medium-sized metal projectiles for our joint forces."
Kurz expressed his appreciation for the Commander's visit. According to Kurz, the operational review and observations of production operations were of great benefit to both SCAAP leadership and the entire BGAD organizational team.
"We demonstrated to the Commanding General a different side of the multi-functional operations positioned under the BGAD Command structure," says Kurz. "Last July in Kentucky, she was presented an in-depth assessment of supply depot operations and saw first-hand BGAD's continuous efforts to improve effectiveness and efficiency ...doing more, and better, with the same resources.
"Here at Scranton, the production mission is a much different capability in terms of generating Army readiness. Although SCAAP is the Army's only organic facility that produces large-caliber projectiles, we still must focus on improvements in modernization and efficiencies that are aligned with JMC efforts in strategic readiness, future force and our Soldiers and people."
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