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Friday, November 15, 2024

Goes Boom!

Here’s some tidbits of good news about restoring our industrial ‘boom’ capacity.
 
How much TNT explosive does the United States produce?  None. 
TNT is used to produce an array of explosive weapons including ammunition, bombs and 155-millimeter artillery rounds, but the military has been reliant on overseas sources.[1]
In a bit of good news, the Army is going to resume TNT production by building a new facility. 
As part of the Army’s quest to boost weapons production, it is reestablishing TNT production on US soil, inking a deal to build out a new facility in Graham, Ky.
 
“For the first time in decades, America will produce TNT on its own soil, manufacturing the explosive material our military uses for everything from hand grenades to 155mm artillery,” outgoing Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a press release.[1]
Boom!


As Army acquisition head Douglas Bush notes, control over our own explosives supply chain is vital. 
“[Restoring] TNT production gives us the ability to control and secure our supply chain for this vital component, especially in an era of increasing global challenges.”[1]
How could we ever have allowed such a vital industrial capability to vanish from our shores?  The military and civilian leadership that allowed this were derelict in their duty, if not treasonous for knowingly and willfully endangering America’s national security.  The military leadership should be recalled to active duty and court-martialed.
 
Setting that aside, the good news gets better … 
By fiscal 2026, the service is aiming to have the capacity to produce 100,000 rounds each month. To get there, Bush previously said the Army plans to spend $4.2 billion to build up the industrial base across various initiatives, to include commissioning three new domestic facilities to support 155mm production and a new metal parts production facility in Canada.[1]
Admittedly, I’m praising something that should never have been necessary and that's sad.  A country/military that doesn’t have its own explosives production capability is a fool and that’s exactly what we’ve been.  Still, it’s refreshing to see us begin to restore what we lost. 
 
I love being able to present positive posts.  It’s a shame that there are so few opportunities to do so, so enjoy this one!
 
 
 
_____________________________
 
[1]Breaking Defense, “Army inks $435 million deal for new TNT production facility”, Ashley Roque, 11-Nov-2024,
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/11/army-inks-435-million-deal-for-new-tnt-production-facility/
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17 comments:

  1. Austin VernonNovember 15, 2024 at 11:02 AM

    It is kind of embarrassing how cheap it is to increase production capacity of munitions. That $4.2 billion is getting us big increases in capacity to produce artillery shells, Stinger missiles, Javelin missiles, Patriot interceptors, and MLRS rounds. We should have sent cruise missiles to Ukraine so they get capacity upgrades, too.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. ComNavOpsNovember 15, 2024 at 11:12 AM

      "big increases in capacity to produce artillery shells, ... missiles"

      We need to be very careful that we don't confuse explosive and 'dumb' shells with advanced electronic-containing missiles. One of the major vulnerabilities in our missile (and other electronics) manufacturing is our near total absence of rare earth (and other critical resources) mining and refining capacity (currently obtained largely from China, if you can believe that) which is critical for producing the chips/electronics that go into missiles, radars, and so much more. We can somewhat quickly gear up explosive production but gearing up the electronic components for advanced sensors and weaponry is a much more challenging proposition.

      We've made recent, tentative steps towards improving our rare earth capacity but many other critical resources are still lacking and vulnerable in a war with China.

      We should have a completely self-contained war manufacturing capability and we're nowhere near that. This TNT effort is a nice step but it's a tiny, baby step toward the completely self-contained goal.

      In his first term, Trump had recognized this resourde vulnerability and begun the process of making us independent from foreign supply. Perhaps he can move us further along that path in his 2nd term.

      Delete
  2. Big BillNovember 15, 2024 at 11:51 AM

    Before WWII, we really didn't have a civilian "Defense Industry" during peacetime. We had Armories to create weapons & equipment, Arsenals to produce ammunition and various other consumables, and Shipyards to build & maintain Naval vessels & weapon systems. These institutions were Federally owned and were first instituted by Alexander Hamilton. It was a system which served the country until the Truman Administration.

    It was only during wartime that we dragooned private industry into producing war material. This process was SUPPOSED to be planned and coordinated by the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now the Eisenhower School). Both peacetime maintenance of the armories and ensuring their scalability for wartime production levels, were to be constantly kept adequate to any requirements, for the various war plans, created by the Naval War College and the Army War College.

    From almost the founding, Col. Thayer designed West Point, not to be an Officer training college per se, but a DARPA-like polytechnical academy to conduct research & development of new military technology & to train engineers. During peacetime, these engineers would be improving the nation's infrastructure and assisting industry to become more modern. All of it to strengthen our defensive capabilities. The Naval Academy was originally conceived upon similar lines as well.

    The maintenance of a civilian defense industry during peacetime started innocently enough after WWII with the aircraft manufacturers and has since spread to include almost all military production. Just ten years later, it was already getting so far out of hand that President Eisenhower felt he had to warn people about it in his Farewell Address. Sadly, the situation kept getting worse throughout Vietnam. But after Adm. Rickover was finally fired, the corruption was allowed to become endemic and has grown exponentially ever since.

    We still have the means to go back to a system our Founders and our greatest Generals & Admirals created. We just lack the will. Food for thought.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Bob NageleNovember 17, 2024 at 1:38 PM

      "Shipyards to build & maintain Naval vessels & weapon systems."

      I believe it's actually more complicated than this. It's true that Navy shipyards did build ships and submarines. However, I also believe that both the Electric boat submarine yard and Newport News Shipbuilding (where our aircraft carriers are built) were private companies long before World War 2. Perhaps even from their founding. This info comes from Wikipedia.

      Delete
  3. ComNavOpsNovember 15, 2024 at 12:54 PM

    First, let me say thank you for a good comment. Now for some specifics and points of discussion/enlightenment. The following is not intended to dispute or argue anything you said, just to add to it with further discussion.

    "Before WWII, we really didn't have a civilian "Defense Industry" during peacetime."

    How true is that? For example (and without a detailed, intimate understanding of any specific facility), wooden shipbuilders were, originally, private shipyards contracted by the government. Rifle manufacturers were either private or, if government run, depended on private industry to mine metals, harvest wood, etc. In fact, I believe all that right up to WWII, all the defense manufacturing depended on private industry for all the raw materials, resources, and components in the pre-assembly stages. The government might assemble the final product but much of the pre-assembly was performed by private industry. Today, we've transferred the final assembly step (and most of the design phase) to industry but the pre-assembly procedure hasn't changed. I'm by no means an expert on this so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in whole or in part.

    Aside from the interesting historical aspect, this is important to help us understand the true scope of the problem with have today and how best to go about solving it.

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    1. Austin VernonNovember 15, 2024 at 2:13 PM

      This recent post makes the case that the difference is now that we not only have fewer defense "primes," but they are different from the past in that they only do defense work rather than have it as a side business.

      https://18theses.com/

      Delete
    2. Big BillNovember 15, 2024 at 9:35 PM

      CNO: Pretty much all true. After every war we SWEAR we are going to be prepared for the next one. But, inevitably, the next war comes and its a total shit show for the first 2 to 3 years.

      Delete
    3. Big BillNovember 17, 2024 at 8:39 AM

      But more to your point, CNO: Just read the Wikipedia article on the Springfield Armory. Created in 1777. Closed in 1968. It is an illustration of what I was saying.

      During peacetime, it collaborated with private gunsmiths and allowed them to submit designs for military weapons. It also helped the civilian gun manufacturers modernize their manufacturing techniques, plant, and equipment.

      During war, they coordinated the allocation of contracts to private industry to help produce weapons (even to the Singer Sewing Machine Co.)

      Delete
  4. deariemeNovember 15, 2024 at 3:11 PM

    "In a bit of good news, the Army is going to resume TNT production by building a new facility." It's good to know that the Army foresaw a Trump win.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 15, 2024 at 7:48 PM

    So what happened to the Radford Army Ammunition Plant? They produced TNT at a rate of 50 ton capacity per day. Assume 15,000 tons per year allowing for down time.

    The new contract with Repkon USA is calling for a 2-3,000 ton yearly capacity.

    This is clearly a good sign but I am concerned at how underwhelming the effort is particularly given that late 2028 (Nov) is the completion target.

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  6. AnonymousNovember 15, 2024 at 9:15 PM

    TNT is no longer the most powerful yet safe military dynamite. US is no longer no. 1 in explosive technologies. Pentagon needs to drive industry harder to surpass.

    https://breakingdefense.com/2024/06/the-us-is-losing-the-race-for-better-munitions-heres-how-to-help/

    Explosives are not only important in warheads, they are also used as propellents of missiles. Therefore, you can find some missiles having longer ranges than other having same weights.

    ReplyDelete
  7. NICONovember 16, 2024 at 2:09 PM

    Article didn't really explain much so went digging and found this one with some more info because who knew that USA stopped making TNT since 1986!?!?

    https://interestingengineering.com/military/us-army-revives-tnt-production

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    1. ComNavOpsNovember 16, 2024 at 3:28 PM

      When you start digging into warfighting capabilities and standards, it's shocking how much we've abandoned. I've documented our abandonment of armor, large caliber naval guns, etc. In addition, we've abandoned survivability standards for ships, EMCON capability for electronic components, component level shock testing, etc. We've farmed out many of our critical raw material sources to oversea suppliers (like China!).

      We've all but abandoned our ability to make war in any serious way.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2024 at 12:31 AM

      Yes, I believe this to be the case in Europe also, where the British - arguably our most important ally - no longer have the capability to make gun barrels.
      An M777 ‘chassis’ for example is manufactured in Northern Ireland and then sent to the BAe plant in the United States to have its US-made barrel fitted.
      Germany at current rates of production will take around 50 years to re-equip the Bundeswehr with the material stripped from active duty units and sent to Ukraine.
      With allies like this..


      Delete
  8. AnonymousNovember 17, 2024 at 6:19 AM

    I only know a little about explosive chemicals, but I had formed the impression that militaries generally had abandoned TNT for RDX, PETN and other compounds some time ago.

    Please don't tell me the US has stopped making these also.

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    1. ComNavOpsNovember 17, 2024 at 12:42 PM

      The only remaining US manufacturer of RDX is the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Kingsport, Tennessee.

      I don't know if PETN is manufactured in the US. A quick Internet search failed to locate a US manufacturer.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2024 at 5:04 AM

      Thanks for the lead in to the Holston Army Ammunition Plant, which I hadn’t heard of. A quick Google search reveals two things about it, one of which is undoubtedly good news, and one about which opinions may vary.

      The good news is that, since the US armed forces found TNT to be sometimes unstably explosive, it has largely been replaced by the more stable IMX-100 which is mass-produced in Holston. The US Marines may, as in so many other things, be exceptional.

      The equivocal news is that IMX-100 is not wholly American. It was developed in England by BAE Systems, formerly British Aerospace, and now BAE (headquarters in London) have a contract for running all of Holston, and also for the Radford Ordnance Plant in Virginia who make the US’s supply of RDX. Whether the US is entirely safe with its supply of explosives in foreign hands may be a matter of opinion.

      Delete

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