$533 Million Army Ammo Factory Failed to Produce Usable Shells

A $533 million artillery factory built to help replenish America’s supply of 155 mm shells instead became plagued by robot fires, malfunctioning equipment and production failures, ultimately failing to deliver a single usable shell, according to a ProPublica piece.

Outside of Dallas, the General Dynamics facility was intended to become a central piece of the Army’s effort to dramatically expand artillery production following the ammunition that has been lost in recent world events. Instead, the Army halted two of that facility’s three production lines in Aug.2025 after General Dynamics missed eight deadlines.

As reported by ProPublica, inside the plant, there were myriads of problems that can only be described as chaotic. Workers described robotic arms catching fire, machinery smashing into equipment and heated steel being dropped onto the factory floor.

Press machines reportedly malfunctioned at such a frequent rate that the employees had to use sledgehammers to keep them from operating. The result was an expensive setback for a base that the Army had targeted as a premium source to replenish their ammunition stockpiles.

Originally Meant to Fix Problems, not be the Problem

The Mesquite project emerged from a crisis that the Pentagon had after Russia invaded Ukraine. Modern Warfare uses artillery at an astounding rate, and the U.S. did not have the depth in this particular industrial sector to keep up.

By 2022, General Dynamics was the only supplier in the country for 155 mm artillery shells, building them out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Rather than simply duplicate the same development plan of that factory somewhere else, General Dynamics proposed building a modern production line around a foreign technology supplier named Repkon.

The proposal was called “flow-forming.” The technology, or at least as it was understood, was supposed to be a flexible and fast process for delivering the necessary components. There were warning signs of the problems to come, though.

The Repkon production line had been designed for an older 155 mm shell made from different steel. According to ProPublica, the equipment had never produced the newer shell the Army wanted, and officials were unable to inspect functioning production lines that Repkon said were operating elsewhere.

Despite this fact, urgency won out. The Army went ahead and ordered three production lines and awarded the company contracts without the requirement of demonstrations that the foreign company was able to handle the process, even to the slimmest of Army standards.

Robots, Broken Shells, and Fires

The factory was officially opened in Texas in May 2024 with all the excitement that came with this brand-new process of being able to make artillery shells in a quick manner. High-ranking military officials at the time hailed the new company as an important aspect in rebuilding the lost stockpiles that the military had before.

Behind the scenes, the machinery was already being gummed up. General Dynamics failed to complete the scheduled test that demonstrated the plant could manufacture the shells up to the Army’s standards, and there were reports that workers were saying shells that were being shown to the Pentagon were not even built in that factory.

From there, the problems kept rising. Robot arms kept misbehaving. They would slam into computer-controlled machines, safety fences and shells. Conveyor belts and other necessary machines in the factory went haywire. Precautions went out the window, endangering the workers many times in the building process.

The plant’s press machines presented another problem. Employees described smoke filling the facility as the temperatures climbed. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation opened in October 2024 after a worker complained of a “respirable hazard,” though OSHA ultimately issued no penalties.

While all of this was going on, shells were repeatedly mangled and rejected throughout the building cycle. One machine was so bad that, instead of making the shells artillery-shaped, it bent them into figures that looked like ice-cream cones.

Hundreds of Billions Spent and Not a Single Shell to be Seen

By 2025, the Army was starting to have enough. The service wanted to terminate the contract and relationship on two production lines, yet the government still issued the contractor around $26.3 million in progress for 2 out 3 lines. This is without even having a usable shell.

The Army told ProPublica it intends to recover funding through discounts on General Dynamics production orders and said it is evaluating contract performance and potential recoupment where contractors fail to meet specifications.

General Dynamics disputed ProPublica’s characterization of the project and said it had “met or exceeded requirements,” according to the inspector general report. The contractor plans on fully replacing much of the Repkon machinery with more traditional equipment while introducing artificial intelligence at the facility. The company expects production to begin next year.

Despite this complete and abject failure, General Dynamics is still hand in hand with the Pentagon. Its Ordnance and Tactical Systems division has received $2.5 billion in Army contract awards since work stopped on two of the Texas production lines.

Only time can tell exactly how this relationship will continue to evolve if projects like this continue to throw away billions of taxpayer-funded munitions contracts.