Author: Scott S. Haraburda

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13:

"Readiness is the Army's number one priority. It requires the strategic capability to procure and manufacture munitions when and where they are needed. Understanding how and why to do this requires a full understanding of the historical development of the American conventional munitions industrial base (CMIB), including a study of some of the devastating lessons learned along the way ... The American CMIB faces several challenges that could impact munitions readiness to Soldiers in the future. One of these challenges includes the quantities and age of the munitions in storage. Nearly a third of the almost 3,000 types of munitions are short of the required quantities and nearly one quarter of the stored munitions are more than 25 years old. The United States should conduct a comprehensive strategic review of its munitions and demilitarize those items it no longer needs. Another challenge is that much of the equipment in the CMIB government facilities is old, obsolete and expensive to operate, indicating capability concerns for sustaining the quality and quantity of munitions required for a prolonged national emergency. As such, the United States should decide which part of the CMIB should be saved and which part should be eliminated. The last challenge is its workforce; the skills involved in munitions-related production generally cannot be adapted to commercial application, nor can existing commercial production experience be converted to munitions productions. It is critical that munitions-manufacturing skills be preserved. The commanders of the government munitions plants should be given the authority to hire government workers to meet its workload and to mitigate anticipated losses through over-hiring. Although not perfect, the CMIB supported the U.S. military successes from initial sovereignty more than two centuries ago to its undisputed global superpower position today. While it was good enough for the past, by and large, the question now is whether it will be good enough for future needs. Although it is not as necessary during long periods of reduced demand, when demand does increase, CMIB needs to be responsive, dependable and reliable. There is a crucial question facing the nation, the same question that it has had to answer repeatedly for more than two centuries: what can be done to ensure that the CMIB is given sufficient resources to sustain Army readiness?"--Publisher's web site.