The European company Czechoslovak Group (CSG) has announced that its subsidiary MSM North America recently won a U.S. Army contract. The contract includes the design, construction, and commissioning of a plant for filling 155 mm shells with explosives.
The plant will not be built from scratch, but on the site of the existing Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. It will be capable of filling 155 mm shells with explosives and packaging them at a rate of 36,000 units per month, or 432,000 per year.
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The cost of this plant is estimated at $632 million. Work under the contract is scheduled to be completed within 40 months, and production is expected to reach the specified rates in September 2029.
The company notes that this plant will be the most modern in the world for loading explosives into shell bodies. It is called the Future Artillery Complex (FAC). The title is likely attributed to the extensive automation of all processes, leaving little need for human involvement.
In addition to reducing the human factor, the cost of filling shells should be lower, and it will also allow for increased production volumes compared to conventional factories. The announced rate of 432,000 shells per year is truly impressive.
Currently, the U.S. has a plan to reach a production rate of 1.2 million 155 mm shells per year. However, these plans are failing, and besides the shells, propellant charges and fuses also need to be produced, which creates even greater challenges.
It seems that the construction of this new plant by MSM North America is part of that plan. If that is the case, these plans won't be realized until the plant reaches full operational capacity in 2029, unless it is already integrated into a broader long-term plan.
It should be noted that 155 mm shells are currently in short supply worldwide, so massive efforts are now underway to boost production, with significant investments being made. For instance, Poland also wants to have its own significant production capacity, so it will increase production rates ninefold, but this will still not be enough.
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