Backed by almost $500 million
US ammunition factory does not produce a single shell after two years
July 18, 2026 – 8:59 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
The USA is having problems producing artillery ammunition. One factory in particular stands out.
One with 469 million US dollars A financed ammunition factory in Mesquite, Texas, has not produced a single usable component for 155-millimeter artillery shells in around two years. This emerges from a report by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense, which was first reported by the US broadcaster CBS News. The facility was intended to help replenish the ammunition stocks that the USA after the Russian attack on the Ukraine submitted in 2022.
According to the report, by March 2026 the operator had not produced a single component for the artillery shells that met the contractually agreed quality requirements. The $469 million “could have been used for other Army or Defense Department priorities,” the Pentagon report said.
Only 71 percent of the desired goal was achieved
The factory in Texas is a symptom of a larger problem facing the US armed forces. In the past four years, the Pentagon said it used or distributed more than 3.6 million 155mm artillery shells. The United States delivered more than three million of these to Ukraine, around 218,000 were sold to partner countries through arms exports, and around 112,000 were used for training and testing. The report probably omits the size of the current inventory of artillery shells for military tactical reasons.
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In order to balance consumption, the US Army In 2024, the goal is to increase production from 14,000 to 100,000 shells per month by October 2025. The Mesquite plant was expected to contribute 30,000 projectile metal parts per month. In fact, production was around 36,000 shells per month in March 2026, according to the Pentagon report. An Army spokeswoman confirmed to CBS News that this number would still be current in July 2026.
Because only three other locations produce the required metal parts, the ministry expects a maximum of 71,000 grenades per month until September 2026. That would correspond to 71 percent of the desired goal. The report states that the reason for this is that the responsible army departments consciously took a risk: The operator wanted to convert existing production facilities for an older bullet model whose suitability for the new variant had not been tested. A construction stop was imposed on two of the three production lines as early as August 2025.
