The U.S. Army awarded a contract on March 5 to Olin Winchester, the operating contractor of Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP), for construction of a facility to manufacture ammunition for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW). This contract supports modernization activities at LCAAP, a key government-owned, contractor-operated Army ammunition plant in Independence, MO.
“This award is a clear demonstration of industry-partner commitment to providing our joint warfighters the advanced munitions they need to fight and win the nation’s wars and safeguard our national security interests,” said MAJ GEN John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer Armaments and Ammunition. “This facility’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and production capacity will also serve as deterrence against adversaries.”
The contract is the culmination of an 18-month design activity led by the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition and Olin Winchester, supported by a team of U.S. government and commercial contractors. The production building and process support systems are designed to accommodate best-practice manufacturing methodologies, processes and equipment that provide flexible, sustainable and maintainable operations and ensure manufacturing readiness to meet future requirements.
Construction of the facility will be followed by a phased equipping program to integrate state-of-the-art ammunition manufacturing capability. The facility will house modern manufacturing systems designed to produce all aspects of the NGSW’s ammunition, including metal parts manufacturing, energetic operations for loading and charging ammunition, product packaging, process quality controls and testing laboratories, maintenance operations and general-use administrative areas. At completion, LCAAP will provide high-volume capability within the organic industrial base utilizing state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, processes, facilities and infrastructure to fulfill the Army’s NGSW ammunition requirement.
The construction program is led by the Army’s Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition and is executed in partnership with the Army Contracting Command-Rock Island, Joint Munitions Command, Olin Winchester and other commercial partners.
Olin Winchester is the largest manufacturer of small-caliber ammunition for the U.S. military. The company assumed the management role at LCAAP—which covers 3,935 acres—in 2020.
