The U.S. Army is looking for new producers to assemble barrels for 155mm howitzers amid concerns on the Pentagon that the federal authorities’s solely plant for manufacturing them can’t maintain with the elevated demand for artillery.
The Army wishes contractors which will manufacture as a lot as 10 barrels per thirty days inside three years, according to the Sources Sought uncover. The deadline is Nov. 23.
Corporations have been requested to provide particulars of their ability — or their subcontractor’s functionality — to make barrels, along with whether or not or not they could add “chrome bore coatings on a steel tube as a lot as 30 [feet] prolonged and as a lot as 7,500 kilos in weight,” the uncover acknowledged. They should moreover current the utmost measurement and weight of tube that they could coat.
Moreover desired are particulars on a company’s boring, milling and rifling capabilities, along with particulars on raw provides, paying homage to “steel preform manufacturing, forging, info bore, and heat treatment.”
The uncover asks contractors to estimate their functionality to manufacture 155mm barrels inside 18 months, and as a lot as 10 barrels per thirty days inside 36 months. Corporations additionally wants to supply a worth estimate for an “preliminary manufacturing quantity of 40 cannon tubes (broken down by caliber or indicating pricing for a blended/versatile mix),” the Army acknowledged.
At current, the Army makes large-caliber barrels for howitzers and tanks solely on the rising older Watervliet Arsenal in New York.
Whereas America and Europe have been centered on rising manufacturing of howitzer ammunition to fulfill demand throughout the Ukraine battle and replenish dwelling stockpiles, one different disadvantage is a shortage of manufacturing functionality to interchange worn-out cannon barrels.
A 2024 Pentagon funds doc acknowledged that Ukraine’s heavy use of M777 howitzers created a requirement for higher than 30 M776 tubes per thirty days, according to The Battle Zone. The doc admitted that Watervliet could not maintain with demand, and requested for emergency funding to be transferred to permit a second producer of barrels.
The model new uncover doesn’t level out what variety of further barrel producers are needed. However, the Army is exploring whether or not or to not change the M777 with a weapon based totally on Korea’s widespread K9 howitzer.
Michael Peck is a correspondent for Safety Data and a columnist for the Center for European Protection Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers Faculty. Uncover him at theuncommondefense.com. His e mail is mikedefense1@gmail.com.
