Manufacturing setbacks are undermining the U.S. Army’s plan to sharply increase output of urgently needed 155mm howitzer shells, according to a Pentagon watchdog report. Despite a goal of producing 100,000 rounds per month by October 2025, the Army had managed only 36,000 rounds per month as of March 2026, based on findings published this month by the Department of Defense Inspector General.
Shell production requires first forging the projectile body at a metal parts factory before it is packed with explosives at a separate facility. The report identified projectile metal part production as the limiting factor preventing the Army from reaching its 100,000 round-per-month target.
The Army has struggled to forge sufficient metal parts to scale up projectile production. A contractor-owned, contractor-operated plant in Mesquite, Texas has been unable to produce any projectile metal parts meeting contract specifications, the report noted. After investing $469 million, the Army opened this modular metal parts factory in 2024, intending to use modern manufacturing practices and high levels of automation to forge large-caliber shell components. That optimism proved premature.
Officials within the Army’s Capability Program Executive Ammunition and Energetics office accepted the risk of purchasing and adapting unproven production equipment that had not been verified to meet U.S. specifications. To save time, the Mesquite facility attempted to adapt manufacturing lines originally built for the older M107 155mm shell, dating back to 1958, in order to produce the newer M795 variant at different specifications, a decision the report said carried its own risks.
The report also noted concerns among Army officials regarding a separate, older ammunition plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where ongoing issues with contractor responsiveness, equipment maintenance and timeliness had already been flagged. Some officials expressed concern that the Army Contracting Command had not opened the Mesquite contract to competition from other manufacturers.
The bottleneck at Mesquite has left the Army’s three existing plants in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, along with a facility in Ingersoll, Canada, to try to absorb the shortfall. The push to expand shell production followed a congressionally mandated modernization plan issued in 2022, after Ukraine’s heavy use of 155mm rounds depleted U.S. stockpiles. The Department of Defense’s 2025 National Defense Industrialization Strategy Implementation Plan had aimed for 100,000 shells per month by October 2025.
The Army’s broader efforts have shown some progress, with monthly production nearly tripling from roughly 14,000 to 36,000 shells. By modernizing the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant and building two new facilities in Kansas and Arkansas, the Army hopes to load, assemble and pack 140,000 155mm rounds per month by December 2027. The Inspector General recommended that the Army review the Mesquite contract to determine how funds were spent, whether any money can be recovered, and whether the contract was properly issued in the first place.
The setbacks at the Mesquite facility highlight the broader challenges facing U.S. efforts to rebuild its artillery ammunition industrial base, even as new plants and modernization initiatives aim to close the gap between current output and wartime demand.