A $469 million military facility intended to produce 30,000 155mm artillery shell parts per month has yet to produce anything.

A newly released report from the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General found that an ammunition plant that was built specifically to produce 155mm artillery rounds has yet to begin work.

The General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) facility in Mesquite, Texas, opened with great fanfare in May 2024 as part of a government effort to replenish the United States military’s supply of the highly used 155mm round, the watchdog explained. More than two years later, the plant, which cost US taxpayers $469 million, has not produced any metal projectile parts that met the Pentagon’s needs.

Why Does the United States Need More Artillery Shells?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States Armed Forces saw its stockpile of 155mm artillery rounds depleted by approximately 3.6 million rounds, with more than 3 million of the rounds sent to Ukraine as part of military aid packages under the Biden administration. According to the report, around 112,000 other rounds were used in training and testing, and an additional 218,000 were sold to US allies or partners.

The war in Ukraine, which has at times resembled an artillery slug match instantly recognizable to a World War I infantryman, has highlighted how quickly ordnance stockpiles can be exhausted. Ironically, the same problem occurred a century ago; a shell supply crisis in the United Kingdom in 1915 helped to bring down the government of British Prime Minister H.H. Asquith. Though the consequences have not been so dramatic for the United States today, the war in Ukraine quickly showed that US shell production couldn’t keep pace with demand in the event of a full-scale war.

From 2023 onward, the Pentagon sought to address the issues by increasing shell production from just 14,000 rounds per month to 100,000 by October 2025 to meet the demand. The effort called for the opening of new facilities, including the plant in Mesquite.

Yet October 2025 came and went, and the United States Army has still fallen short of the 100,000 monthly production goal. As of March 2026, it had reached just 36,000 shells produced per month. Much of the blame for this shortfall falls on the Mesquite facility, which failed to produce any of the 30,000 projectile metal parts it was contracted to manufacture and deliver.

“With only three facilities producing the required projectile metal parts, the [Department of Defense] will reach only 71,000 rounds per month, or 71 percent of its monthly production capacity goal for 155mm artillery rounds,” the inspector general report warned.

Even as the demand for the 155mm rounds has diminished in Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces increasingly employ drones, it could take years to refill international stockpiles.

To address the issue for the United States military, the Pentagon inspector general report recommended that US Army officials “identify and implement a solution”  to produce 155mm ammunition, including reviewing the contract with the Mesquite facility, and “determine how the money was spent and whether the DoW can recoup any funds.” The Army should also determine whether the contract was even “appropriately issued.”

Some efforts are already underway to address the issue. In April, the US Army and American ammunition firm Day & Zimmermann announced the opening of a new facility in Parsons, Kansas, which will be dedicated to producing 155mm shells—specifically the M795 projectile, a bursting round that employs fragmentation and blast effects.

Last year, the Army also opened a new load, assemble, and pack (LAP) facility in Camden, Arkansas, expanding production of the 155mm artillery shells that are manufactured at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Des Moines County, Iowa.

Why Aren’t 155mm Shells Easier to Build?

Artillery shells are mechanically very simple, yet complex to build at the same time—requiring specific tooling as their manufacture involves massive hydraulic forge presses, specialized CNC lathes, and exact thermal-treatment equipment. The defense industrial base has struggled to rapidly scale production, in part because legacy tooling is old and new manufacturing requires heavily calibrated and untested equipment.

Each 155mm round is made of four parts, including the detonating fuse, projectile, propellant, and primer. Each round is about 2 feet (60 cm) long and weighs about 100 pounds (45 kg), while it is 155mm (6.1 inches) in diameter. The artillery shells can be configured for different battlefield purposes, including high explosive, armor penetration, and high fragmentation for anti-personnel use. Specialty shells have been employed with precision-guided systems.

The shells can be fired by the American M777 Howitzer, the German PzH 2000, the South Korean K9 Thunder, and the French Caesar, among many other platforms.

The 155mm rounds aren’t the only ordnance the US military may have shortages of, as there are reports that stockpiles of interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system and Tomahawk missiles have been expended during the war with Iran.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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