{"id":3213,"date":"2026-08-26T16:36:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=3213"},"modified":"2026-08-26T16:36:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:36:04","slug":"five-findings-from-the-armys-artillery-factory-fiasco-propublica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=3213","title":{"rendered":"Five Findings From the Army\u2019s Artillery Factory Fiasco \u2014 ProPublica"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The U.S. Army paid General Dynamics $533 million for an artillery factory that failed to produce a single usable shell.<\/p>\n

Instead of efficient, state-of-the-art production lines, half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding paid for machines that kept failing in bizarre ways, former workers told ProPublica\u2019s Jesse Coburn<\/a>. Giant robot arms would catch fire. The Texas factory\u2019s signature device often cracked the steel meant for the shells. And workers regularly had to take a sledgehammer to certain machines to try to make them function properly. But the machines still botched nearly every shell.<\/p>\n

The boondoggle, which included a real-life dumpster fire, was described as an \u201cabsolute disaster,\u201d by one former official who worked in an Army office overseeing the project. The official, like others interviewed for the story, spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

In a detailed statement<\/a>, the Army told ProPublica it exercises \u201crigorous oversight\u201d and that, \u201cwhere vendors fail to meet contract specifications\u201d \u2014 as at the General Dynamics artillery factory \u2014 \u201dwe are evaluating contract performance, seeking recoupment of funds, and pivoting resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

General Dynamics declined an interview request, but the company has said it \u201cmet or exceeded requirements,\u201d according to a Department of Defense inspector general report. In a statement, a company spokesperson told ProPublica its reporting \u201cfundamentally mischaracterizes the circumstances,\u201d but did not respond to a request to specify our reporting\u2019s alleged errors.<\/p>\n

To chronicle what went wrong, Coburn interviewed 36 people who\u2019ve worked for the Army, the Pentagon, General Dynamics and the White House, and he reviewed internal company documents as well as photos and video from inside the factory. Here are the lapses in planning and execution Coburn\u2019s reporting uncovered \u2014 and some of the consequences of those mistakes.<\/p>\n

The Red Flags<\/h2>\n

The Army awarded the project to General Dynamics in a rushed process despite significant unknowns.<\/h3>\n

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Biden administration rushed to boost production of artillery shells to support Ukraine\u2019s war effort. General Dynamics was the only company producing the 155 mm metal shell bodies in the U.S. at that time, mainly in a century-old facility in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The company could have simply replicated the facility\u2019s traditional manufacturing method, which dated back to the time of the Korean War, to ramp up production. But General Dynamics proposed using a state-of-the-art production line from Repkon, a Turkish company virtually unknown in American defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Repkon said other countries were already using its machinery to build an older, simpler model of the artillery shells. But it wasn\u2019t clear the Turkish equipment could work with the particular steel used to make the Army\u2019s newer model of 155 mm shells. And Repkon said the Army and General Dynamics could not inspect full artillery production lines in action, citing customer privacy.<\/p>\n

Repkon did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Department of Defense did not competitively bid the project.<\/h3>\n

The Army could\u2019ve insisted that General Dynamics more fully demonstrate that Repkon\u2019s machines could perform the desired work. But that would\u2019ve taken time, and \u2014 as a former Army official told Coburn \u2014 \u201cthere was incredible pressure to go fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2022, the Army gave General Dynamics the first in a series of contract awards for the artillery factory. Then, Congress granted the Department of Defense the power to award money for Ukraine-related causes without some of the usual contracting safeguards meant to ensure taxpayer money doesn\u2019t go to waste. That meant the Army could give General Dynamics no-bid awards and the company could start work on the project before finalizing the contract terms with the government.<\/p>\n

The U.S. ended up ordering three Repkon production lines \u2014 instead of just one \u2014 without knowing for certain whether they could make shells that met the Army\u2019s specifications. (The Army said it selected General Dynamics because of the company\u2019s unique artillery production experience).<\/p>\n

The Army did not thoroughly vet the proposal before approving it.<\/h3>\n

Both the Army and General Dynamics sent staffers to Turkey to inspect the Repkon machines. But they never inspected a full production line in action, and they didn\u2019t send enough experts who could identify potential defects in Repkon\u2019s equipment, four former General Dynamics and Army officials told ProPublica.<\/p>\n

The Army also didn\u2019t require General Dynamics to demonstrate it could use Repkon\u2019s equipment to complete the entire production process and make shells that met the service\u2019s specifications. (The Army said that \u201cformal testing could not occur prior to full machinery installation.\u201d)<\/p>\n

In 2024, leaders from the Army and General Dynamics gathered in Texas to celebrate the factory\u2019s opening. But the machines were barely functioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the rushed planning from the Army and General Dynamics played out in the factory.<\/p>\n

The Consequences<\/h2>\n

In Texas, robotic arms caught fire and smashed into equipment.<\/h3>\n

Twelve former factory workers told Coburn that problems quickly piled up inside the factory. Machines meant to begin giving the shells perfectly smooth noses would, instead, mangle them into swirls that looked like soft-serve ice cream.<\/p>\n

The robotic arms had a tendency to swing out of control, smashing into things around the factory. Workers talked about the arms going \u201crogue.\u201d Sometimes, a machine in the factory would be seen moving on its own, controlled remotely by someone in Turkey, spooking workers in the Texas factory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Workers said smoke hung in the air inside the factory, and it\u2019d reach desert-like temperatures when the furnaces or forging presses were on. Making matters worse, walls cracked, water flooded in when it rained and employees said the foundation of the buildings appeared to be shifting or sinking beneath them.<\/p>\n

As progress at the artillery plant continued to stall, paranoia grew and rumors swirled among the American workers that the Turkish employees from Repkon might be purposefully sabotaging the machinery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was astonishing how little progress we would make, month after month, year after year,\u201d one former worker told ProPublica. \u201cPeople started speculating, \u2018I wonder if they\u2019re spying on us.\u2019\u201d (The Army said it has no evidence of sabotage or spying.)<\/p>\n

General Dynamics failed to meet a number of milestones at the facility, including failing to perform scheduled first article tests, which would\u2019ve demonstrated the factory could produce shells that met the Army\u2019s requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Army hasn\u2019t required General Dynamics to pay the money back.<\/h3>\n

General Dynamics, one of the world\u2019s largest defense contractors, and Repkon haven\u2019t been held publicly accountable for the taxpayer-funded failure. The Army also hasn\u2019t made General Dynamics pay back the money. (The service said it will recover funding from the project by getting unspecified discounts from General Dynamics on production orders.)<\/p>\n

In August 2025, the Army halted work on two of the three production lines at the factory. But the Army didn\u2019t unilaterally terminate the contract awards. In December 2025, the government paid the company $26.3 million in \u201cprogress payments\u201d for two production lines \u2014 although the lines had never made a usable shell.<\/p>\n

The Army says it won\u2019t spend any more money on the artillery plant. But since the Army partially halted work at the factory last summer, the same unit of General Dynamics responsible for the struggling facility has won contract awards worth $2.5 billion, according to the Army. (The service said this was for \u201cdistinct production lines and critical national defense requirements\u201d unrelated to the Texas factory.)<\/p>\n

Having experienced the failure of a little-proven technology in its factory, General Dynamics has announced it will team up with yet another unheard-of partner promising technological innovation. The new solution? Artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Read our full investigation here.<\/a><\/p>\n