A Study on the Cannon Tube Industrial Base in the United States
Abstract
Watervliet Arsenal is a long standing and historic producer of cannon tubes in the United States. Having this capability in the United States is critical to arm our warfighters and to project power around the world in an era of great power competition. As the sole producer of cannon tubes in the United States, Watervliet Arsenals capacity is the limiting capacity for large cannon tube production to meet the demand of multiple customers with reasonable delivery lead times in the United States. This paper explores some of the causes and ramifications of having a single point of supply for the manufacturing of large cannon tubes in the United States. This report is a qualitative case study to examine the constraints on cannon tube production in the United States. It explores how cyclic rates of demand affect cannon tube production. And given the constraints and cyclic demand, how the Army maintains sufficient production capacity for large cannon tubes in the United States. It reviews the protectionist legislation of the Arsenal Act and Stratton Amendment, and how they affect cannon tube production in the United States. It also provides specific recommendations on how to change those protectionist legislations to bolster the cannon tube production in the United States. It also goes over the cyclic nature of cannon tube production and provides actions that can be taken to address and possibly alleviate the issue of surging production quantities of cannon tubes in times of war.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 03, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1200776
Entities
People
- Joshua M. Charm
Organizations
- Defense Acquisition University