Trump claims Mattis asked for a military operation to be delayed due to an 'ammo shortage'

[mystery-ak]

Trump claims Mattis asked for a military operation to be delayed due to an 'ammo shortage'
Jeff Schogol
September 16, 2019 at 05:50 PM

President Donald Trump just can't stop telling stories about former Defense Secretary James Mattis. This time, the president claims Mattis said U.S. troops were so perilously low on ammunition that it would be better to hold off launching a military operation.

"You know, when I came here, three years ago almost, Gen. Mattis told me, 'Sir, we're very low on ammunition,'" Trump recalled on Monday at the White House. "I said, 'That's a horrible thing to say.' I'm not blaming him. I'm not blaming anybody. But that's what he told me because we were in a position with a certain country, I won't say which one; we may have had conflict. And he said to me: 'Sir, if you could, delay it because we're very low on ammunition.'

"And I said: You know what, general, I never want to hear that again from another general," Trump continued. "No president should ever, ever hear that statement: 'We're low on ammunition.'"

Mattis declined to respond to the president's comments on Monday. Since he resigned in protest last year over Trump's initial decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria, Mattis has steadfastly avoided criticizing the president, citing the French concept of devoir de reserve – the duty of silence.

more
https://taskandpurpose.com/trump-mattis-ammunition-shortage

[txradioguy]

If Trump doesn't want to hear that again...open up some of the shuttered military small arms ammo factories that Clinton and Obama shuttered.

We have exactly one government owned ammunition factory to make small arms ammo left in the U.S. the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri

[Elderberry]

Small-Arms Ammunition Production and Acquisition: Too Many Eggs in One Basket?
by Major Mark W. Siekman, USAR, Dr. David A. Anderson, and Allan S. Boyce

https://alu.army.mil/alog/issues/sepoct10/spectrum_smallarms_ammo.html

Over 99 percent of all small-arms bullets (5.56-millimeter [mm], 7.62-mm and .50-caliber) consumed by the Army under its Title 10 responsibility to supply and equip its forces are manufactured at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. Production demand is driven by current operational requirements; any production shortfalls at Lake City are outsourced to private companies within the United States.3 Logisticians will argue that this strategy lacks adequate redundancy and responsiveness, especially when one considers that the Lake City facility was built in 1941.

The Army’s small-arms ammunition production is affected by more than the output of the Lake City facility. As with any manufacturing system, the supply chain is an integral piece in the production output process. Each small-arms-ammunition cartridge (single round) contains several components. The main ammunition used by virtually every Soldier and Marine is the 5.56-mm cartridge. Its design includes the cartridge case, the bullet or shot, propellant, and primer. Each of these components is fabricated from different commodities. The Army requires ATK to maintain a minimum of three suppliers for each of the components.4

The lead and steel for the bullet’s penetrator are obtained from sources located in the United States.5 The brass for the cartridge case is primarily supplied from companies within the continental United States (CONUS). Lake City purchases brass in the form of brass case cups and bullet jacket cups from a U.S.-based source. During the manufacturing process, these cups are pulled from their original configuration and reconfigured into the appropriate small-arms ammunition cartridge type. Alternative suppliers have been identified; however, they account for less than 5 percent of the total purchased.6 Lake City has taken the initiative to recycle unused and waste brass during the manufacturing process to reduce costs.

The main ingredient used in all small-arms ammunition propellants is nitrocellulose. The Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia is the sole producer of this essential ingredient for all propellants used throughout the Army’s ammunition industrial base. Radford has an acid-concentrator facility that produces the nitric and sulphuric acids that, when combined with cellulose, make nitrocellulose. Ninety-nine percent of all small-arms ammunition used in Afghanistan and Iraq contains nitrocellulose produced at this facility.

Finally, the primer in most cartridges is made from over 13 different chemicals, which are mixed at the Lake City plant. Lake City manufactures the primers for all small-arms ammunition produced at its facility. ATK continues to seek additional sources of supply for the primer mix chemicals. All suppliers are based in the United States. However, the U.S. suppliers obtain these chemicals from Canada, Europe, Mexico, India, Brazil, and China as well as the United States.7

One final component unique to machinegun ammunition is linkage belts. Before Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lake City relied on suppliers for linkage belts using 5.56-mm, 7.62-mm, and .50-caliber ammunition. Because of the large increase in demand for this ammunition, the plant invested in upgrading its facilities and manufacturing equipment. This included purchasing, moving, and installing the sole surviving production line for linkage belts for 5.56-mm, 7.62-mm, and .50-caliber machineguns.