By PEO Ammunition
In the dozen years since it was first chartered, Program Executive Officer for Ammunition (PEO Ammo) has fielded 12 billion rounds of ammo, demilitarized nearly a million tons more, and had a hand in upgrading production plants and depot facilities in the United States and abroad. It has earned a number of awards for that work, honoring individual contributions as well as team efforts.
Chartered in January 2002, PEO Ammo provides acquisition management for all of the Army’s conventional munitions and munition systems, including mortar weapons and fire control. Also chartered in 2002 were Project Managers Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS), Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM MAS) and Close Combat Systems (PM CCS).
PEO Ammo was later designated as the DOD Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition (SMCA), and Project Director Joint Services (PD JS) was assigned as the SMCA procurement agent for Air Force and Navy bombs and Navy gun ammunition. PD JS was given the responsibility of managing the demilitarization of all DOD conventional ammunition and also assumed responsibilities for managing the modernization and sustainment of the government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) ammunition industrial base. Later, PD JS’ role as the SMCA procurement agent for Air Force and Navy bombs and Navy gun ammunition was transferred to a new organization, Project Director Joint Products, which was stood up in 2009.
In addition to providing more than 12 billion rounds of ammo to all the services over the past dozen years, PEO Ammo has conducted more than 220 materiel releases and 61 type classifications. All of the major milestones, regardless of Acquisition Category, represent leap-ahead capability for the Warfighter that hadn’t been previously demonstrated on the battlefield.
A few examples include safety improvements made to the M67 fragmentation grenade confidence clip, marking rounds for improved training, improvements to the 120mm tank rounds for increased effectiveness, non-lethal capability set fieldings for checkpoint, convoy, or crowd control operations and fielding of the modular artillery charge system for greater flexibility with propelling charges for artillery weapons.
One of the most memorable accomplishments was the fielding of the Excalibur 155mm Precision
Projectile Increment Ia in 2007 and later Increment Ia2. Earlier this year, PM CAS received type classification standard and approval to proceed into full rate production for the Excalibur 155mm Increment Ib, developed through an international cooperative development program with the Kingdom of Sweden. Excalibur has completed foreign military sales to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden, and has received interest for future sales from numerous other countries.
IM Efforts Saving Lives
In theater, PEO Ammo’s integrated insensitive munitions (IM) solutions have reduced the severity of reaction and improved safety during storage, handling, transport and testing. Here are a few examples of the IM efforts:
Initially developed to replace TNT in the M795 and M107 155mm high explosive (HE) projectiles, IMX-101 has since been integrated into the M1122 155mm IM HE projectile and M1 105mm IM HE cartridge.
The results of maturing IM Melt Cast technologies, IMX-101 and IMX-102, were leveraged to develop aluminized IMX-101, known as ALIMX-101 and currently selected as the main fill for the Navy’s BLU-111 500-pound general purpose bomb.
IMX-104 was originally developed as a Comp-B replacement and has since been integrated in the M3A1 40-pound shaped charge and the M039 40-pound cratering charge.
Pressed IMX-104 was developed to replace IMX-104 Melt Cast and N-9 explosives in artillery rounds, and has been integrated into the M795 PGK-compatible projectiles.
PAX-46 was originally developed as a Comp-A5 replacement and has been integrated into the 40-pound shaped charge.
Supporting Overseas Operations
During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), PEO Ammo responded to more than 40 Joint Urgent Operational Needs and/or Operational Needs Statements involving multiple systems. These systems ranged from counter improvised explosive devices and counter mine equipment to anti-personnel network munitions, entry control point equipment and cannon-fired projectiles.
PEO Ammo also performs life-cycle management for demilitarization of conventional ammunition for DOD. Its PM Demilitarization has managed the demilitarization of more than 800,000 tons of conventional ammo, and working to identify more efficient and effective ways to demilitarize ammunition using closed disposal technologies and recycling and recovery efforts.
Much of the Army-owned ammunition industrial base, which includes Army ammunition plants (AAPs), depots and arsenals, was designed and built to support the production rates of World War II. Since 2003, the Army through PEO Ammo has invested more than $1.8 billion to modernize antiquated, unreliable and inefficient technologies and facilities at GOCO installations. These transformation efforts have reduced supply disruptions, increased operating efficiencies and improved the work environment.
The AAPs, arsenals and depots are part of the National Technology and Industrial Base, which includes private facilities in the United States and Canada as well as those owned by the federal government. PEO Ammo’s modernization program ensures that these installations keep pace with advanced technologies so that DOD can properly equip its forces and meet current and future requirements.
Efforts Yield Accolades
Equipping the force is PEO Ammo’s number one priority. But equally important are developing and recognizing our work force for acquisition excellence and being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. Since the inception of Better Buying Power initiatives in 2011, PEO Ammo has achieved more than $6 billion in savings and cost avoidances. In 2011, PEO Ammo received the Lean Six Sigma Excellence Award Program from the Department of the Army, in recognition of its professional workforce development and its use of Lean Six Sigma methods for cost savings and avoidance.
PM CCS, PM MAS and PM CAS have each received the David Packard Acquisition Excellence Award. In 2006, PM CCS received the Packard Award for outstanding achievements in equipping Army fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft with expendable countermeasure flares that directly supported OEF and OIF. PM MAS was recognized in 2011 for its innovative redesign of the Cold War-era General Purpose 5.56mm M855 ammunition round. In 2012, PM CAS received the Packard Award for its work to establish and implement a highly efficient buying approach for acquiring tube-launched, indirect fire munitions.
PM MAS was able to field the M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) as an Engineering Change Proposal, reducing production time and cost without jeopardizing quality. In addition to receiving the Packard Award, the EPR team from PM MAS also received an Army Acquisition Excellence Award in the category of equipping and sustaining Soldier systems.
Several individuals at PEO Ammo have also been recognized for their work. COL (R) Mark Rider, PM MAS, and COL Terrece Harris, Product Manager for Improvised Explosive Device Defeat/Protect Force, were recognized as the Army’s Project Manager and Product Manager of the year in 2006 and 2012, respectively.
In 2013, Robert Kowalski of PM MAS received the Director, Acquisition Career Management Award and Brian Sharkey of PM CAS was selected as the DOD Major Weapon System (ACAT II and Below) Product Support Manager of the Year.
PEO Ammo also has the distinction of having three former employees inducted into the Army Ammunition Hall of Fame. Inductees are chosen solely on their significant contributions to the Army ammunition mission. Patrick Serao, inducted in 2012, served as the deputy project manager for PM CAS. Charles Digney served for 20 years as the deputy project manager for Mines, Countermine and Demolitions, renamed PM CCS following the standup of PEO Ammo. William DeMassi served as chief engineer for PM CAS. Both were inducted in 2013.
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Army Acquisition Corps (AAC), Access is publishing articles that highlight milestones throughout the history of the AAC. Each article marks a moment in acquisition excellence.
