TURNING OUT THE BIG GUNS In the late 1880s, nearly 70 years after Watervliet Arsenal, NY, produced its first ammunition, it became the Army’s first large- caliber cannon manufacturer, a mission that continues to this day. Each cannon tube goes through a rotary forge like this one before it is shaped. The late 18th and 19th centuries saw an expansion from the five arsenals established by the Continental Congress to 26 arsenals by 1861, along with a capability growth from primarily arms repair and refurbishment to specialized manufacturing. Watervliet remains the only domestic manufacturer of large-caliber breeches and gun tubes for the Army. (Photo by John B. Snyder, AMC)
Despite this shift to contracted support, the organic base remains a strategic readiness insurance policy; but what is the right type of much
insurance, and how can America afford? Defense
budget reductions may soon force hard decisions regarding consolidation, joint- sourcing, outsourcing, privatization and divestiture.
CONCLUSION Te strategic importance of an effective industrial base is indisputable. In 2011, ADM Michael Mullen, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in the National Military Strategy, “We must…ensure our Nation’s industrial base is able to field the capabilities and capacity necessary for our forces to succeed in any contingency.” However, as in the past, capability must find balance with cost. GEN Martin E. Dempsey, Mullen’s successor as chairman, emphasized
in 2012 that affordabil-
ity and financial stewardship were key to developing the Joint Force of 2020.
Te U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) considered these imperatives in its “United States Army Organic Indus- trial Base Strategic Plan 2012-2022.” In it,
AMC provided a framework that sought to ensure the viability, effectiveness, effi- ciency and availability of the organic base to meet
future wartime surge require- ments in a drawdown environment.
History tells us that after mobilization surges, the pendulum of military indus- trial readiness often swings to the side of potential ruin if not guided by informed policy and logical strategy. As the nation enters an era of budget austerity, the decisions the Army makes regarding the organic base must consider the long-term stability and agility of the greater defense industrial base as a global entity, and the government’s ability to leverage its capabilities. Te Army must find the har- monious balance of industrial capability, affordability and risk.
For in-depth information on the origins of continental armories and arsenals and the management of American arms and their manufacture during the Revolution- ary War, see Robert F. Smith’s dissertation
“ ‘A Veritable... Arsenal’ of Manufacturing: Government Management of Weapons Production in the American Revolution,” available at:
http://books.google.com/
books?id=8Ei7gSPQYTMC&lpg=PP1 &pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
In addition to the Army, other U.S. military services possess various types of industrial capability. For more
information about
Title X, U.S. Code, Section 2474 (“Cen- ters of Industrial and Technical Excellence: Designation; Public-Private Partnerships”) and each of the services’ depot maintenance capabilities, see the “Depot Maintenance” webpage of the Office of the Assistant Sec- retary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Maintenance Policy and Pro- grams,
at
http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/ mpp/
depot.html.
LTC(P) RICHARD B. DEBANY is cur- rently a U.S. Army War College Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a B.S. in political science from the State Uni- versity of New York, College at Brockport and an M.A. in procurement and acquisi- tions management from Webster University. He is Level III certified in contracting and Level II certified in program management. Debany is a member of the U.S. Army Acquisition Corps.
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