General Dynamics Awarded Contracts for 120mm Tank and Artillery Ammunition Valued At $97 Million

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The U.S. Army Con­tract­ing Com­mands, Picatin­ny Arse­nal, N.J., and Rock Island, Ill., have award­ed Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems, a busi­ness unit of Gen­er­al Dynam­ics (NYSE: GD), three con­tracts with a total val­ue of $97 mil­lion for the man­u­fac­ture and deliv­ery of 120mm M865 and M1002 tank train­ing ammu­ni­tion, 105mm M1130 high-explo­sive (HE) pre-formed frag­men­ta­tion (PFF) car­tridges and 155mm M795 HE pro­jec­tile met­al parts.

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The M865 Tar­get Prac­tice, Cone Sta­bi­lized, Dis­card­ing Sabot-Trac­er (TPCSDS‑T) ammu­ni­tion is used in the 120mm smooth-bore M256 can­non of Army and U.S. Marine Corps Abrams main bat­tle tanks. The M865 is designed to sim­u­late the char­ac­ter­is­tics of live ammu­ni­tion at reduced max­i­mum ranges, to allow prac­tice fir­ings on short-range train­ing areas. 

The M1002 Tar­get Prac­tice Mul­ti-Pur­pose Trac­er (TPMP‑T) train­ing car­tridge pro­vides matched exte­ri­or bal­lis­tics and time-of-flight para­me­ters to the M830A1 High Explo­sive Anti-Tank Mul­ti-Pur­pose Trac­er (HEAT-MP‑T) tac­ti­cal car­tridge when fired from the Abrams tank. 

The 105mm M1130 HE PFF ammu­ni­tion is fired from the M119 towed how­itzer and is the newest mem­ber of the Army’s 105mm ammu­ni­tion fam­i­ly. This mod­ern muni­tion recent­ly achieved full mate­r­i­al release (sig­ni­fy­ing that the Army has rig­or­ous­ly test­ed and eval­u­at­ed the item and deter­mined that it is safe, oper­a­tional­ly suit­able and logis­ti­cal­ly sup­port­able for use) and has entered ser­vice in Afghanistan. 

The 155mm M795 is a high-explo­sive/high-frag­men­ta­tion artillery pro­jec­tile that is used in con­junc­tion with the M777 and M198 towed how­itzers and the M109A6 Pal­adin self-pro­pelled how­itzer. The round has been wide­ly used in com­bat oper­a­tions in both Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, Gen­er­al Dynam­ics has pro­duced more than 1.3 mil­lion 155mm M795 pro­jec­tiles in sup­port of the Army and Marine Corps.

“Our tank and artillery ammu­ni­tion con­tin­ue to play key roles in both the train­ing of U.S. forces as well as pro­vid­ing them over­match capa­bil­i­ty in com­bat,” said Steve Tor­ma, vice pres­i­dent and gen­er­al man­ag­er of Large Cal­iber Ammu­ni­tion for Gen­er­al Dynam­ics Ord­nance and Tac­ti­cal Sys­tems. “Gen­er­al Dynam­ics’ her­itage in pro­duc­ing tank and artillery ammu­ni­tion is sec­ond to none and we are hon­ored to pro­vide con­tin­u­ing sup­port to U.S. armed forces with this high-per­for­mance ammunition.” 

Work is expect­ed to be com­plete in Feb­ru­ary 2013 for the 155mm artillery ammu­ni­tion, April 2014 for the 105mm artillery ammu­ni­tion and Sep­tem­ber 2016 for the 120 tank ammunition. 

Source:
Gen­er­al Dynamics