REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Leaders from across the Army are making decisions to ensure the organic industrial base is ready to respond today and, in the future, whenever the nation calls upon it.
Army Materiel Command and Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) hosted an OIB modernization war game here, May 15-16, 2024, to ensure modernization of the Army’s OIB is synchronized and integrated with Army priorities.
“We must ensure that each project is tied to workload,” said Marion Whicker, AMC’s executive deputy to the commanding general. “Everything must have clear linkage to the Army's strategy. We must be planning for where the Army wants to go.”
The OIB — 23 arsenals, depots and ammunition plants that manufacture, reset and maintain Army equipment — is executing its most comprehensive modernization in history through the Army’s OIB Modernization Implementation Plan with an investment of more than $18 billion over 15 years.
Whicker emphasized that during the execution of the OIB MIP, leaders must stay focused on three things — modernizing to support today’s systems, modernizing to support tomorrow’s capabilities and divesting things the sites no longer need.
“We have got to get our facilities lean and mean, this is about being efficient and effective in all the things we do,” said Whicker. “We must show sustained success to maintain consistent funding.”
Some modernization projects began ahead of the planned OIB MIB fiscal year 24 start due to additional funding the Army received connected to ammunition production, including efforts to accelerate 155 mm production. With that money, the Army’s artillery production doubled in the last year with a goal of producing 100,000 155 mm shells per month by 2025.
“We are extremely supported by Congress and Army senior leaders,” said Whicker about being good stewards of the taxpayer. “We have a lot of responsibility to do the right thing. We have to know what the Army needs, be able to justify what we are asking for it and show the effects we hope to achieve.”
The war game brought together stakeholders from across AMC headquarters and its Lifecycle Management Commands, all of the OIB sites, ASA(ALT), the Army Corps of Engineers, Army Futures Command and more.
“This is an Army program, and I am most proud to see us come together as an Army team to ensure we are taking the OIB where it needs to go,” said Whicker.
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