Military

Joint Munitions Command [JMC]
[ex Operations Support Command (OSC)]
[ex Industrial Operations Command (IOC)]

The Joint Munitions Command, headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois is the Army's instrument to project and sustain logistics power anywhere in the world. A multi-faceted, multi-site subordinate of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, JMC supports the Army's vision by assuring material and unit readiness. JMC synchronizes and integrates sustainment of, and support for, contingency operations through its forward deployed elements. The command stores, maintains, accounts for, issues and reconstitutes equipment and materiel for the Army's globally prepositioned stocks. JMC is the Field Operating Agency for the Department of Defense Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition, producing, storing, maintaining and demilitarizing ammunition for all military services. The command operates a global network of installations, activities and forward support elements.

All Army war reserves (AWR) and pre-positioned stocks are managed by the Army Materiel Command (AMC), Alexandria, Virginia, with the Army Industrial Operations Command (IOC), Rock Island, Illinois, serving as AMC's management agent. Placing all five geographic sets of AWR under central management in October 1994, implemented one of the lessons learned from Operation Desert Storm. Previously, war reserve materiel was managed by theater commanders in chief. That allowed little flexibility in transferring stocks from one theater to another.

The OSC is a worldwide organization with installations and activities located in 35 states and overseas. The OSC's industrial infrastructure is second to none in producing munitions and large caliber weapons, and in providing a full range of maintenance services for modern weapons. The OSC manufactures, delivers and supports materiel throughout the world for America's service members.

Under Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) directed cuts or reductions at the Industrial Operations Command at Rock Island Arsenal, II, the Industrial Operations Command headquarters lost 278 jobs. As a result of these cuts, the Army Materiel Command directed the major subordinate commands assume responsibility of their maintenance depots. The Communications Electronics Command, at Fort Monmouth, N.J., assumed operational control of Tobyhanna, PA in October 1997, and assumed full command and control 01 October 1998. The depots that maintain aviation and missile systems; Corpus Christi, Texas, aviation depot; and Letterkenny, in Chambersburg, Pa., missile depot, went under the operational control of Aviation and Missile Command [AMCOM] 01 October 1998. The Tank Automotive Command in Warren, Mich., picked up the tank automotive depots at Anniston, AL., and Red River in Texarkana, Texas, and assumed full command and control October 1999. The depots will staid put at their respective locations but answered directly to the major subordinate commands they serve. The commands in turn assumed this additional management role without getting more people. This included responsibility for management of all phases of the depot operations including responsibility for planning, budgeting, workloading, program execution and net operating result. The Industrial Operations Command [later renamed the Operations Support Command (OSC)] kept responsibility for managing the ammunition depots and arsenals. This included the ammunition activity at Letterkenny. So while AMCOM manages the missile depot, the IOC continued to manage Letterkenny's ammunition activity.

With the end of the Cold War, the nation's need for a large conventional munitions stockpile decreased. A 1993 study recommended a smaller, safer, better quality stockpile with a reduced workforce and fewer storage installations. Since the major peacetime use of conventional ammunition is for training, the plan that resulted from the study divided the continental United States into east, central and west regions. Each region received a Tier I facility to reduce transportation costs for training ammunition. Due to the large number of military units in the eastern US, that region has two Tier I facilities. Factors considered in ranking the installations were: the capabilities to outload, inspect and test, ship, store, maintain and demilitarize ammunition; the costs of operations; and location relative to training sites and ports.

Tier I facilities store ammunition for training and the first 30 days of War Reserve ammunition. They are fully staffed for that mission. The four Tier I, or active, ammunition facilities are:

• East - Blue Grass Army Depot, KY
• East - Crane Army Ammunition Activity, IN
• Central - McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, OK
• West - Tooele Army Depot, UT

Tier II facilities store War Reserve ammunition to be used after the first 30 days. They are partially staffed in peacetime, but would increase staffing when needed. The four Tier II, or cadre, ammunition facilities are:

• East - Anniston Army Depot, AL
• East - Letterkenny Army Depot, PA
• Central - Red River Army Depot, TX
• West - Hawthorne Army Depot, NV

Note: Anniston, Letterkenny and Red River operate as Tier I facilities for missiles.

Tier III, or caretaker, facilities store ammunition excess to the Defense Department's needs. Under 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC-95) decisions, two facilities will close and the ammunition mission of the third (Sierra) will be reduced to demilitarization only. The three Tier III ammunition facilities are:

• East - Seneca Army Depot Activity, NY
• Central - Savanna Army Depot Activity, IL
• West - Sierra Army Depot, CA

Full implementation of the tiering plan took six years, at which time the BRAC-95 closures were complete.

The Armament Re-Tooling & Manufacturing Support Program [ARMS] Program is designed to encourage commercial reuse of the Army`s Inactive Ammunition Plants through many incentives for businesses willing to locate to a government ammunition production facility. The ARMS initiative allows private companies to occupy space at selected Army facilities in exchange for rents or for other consideration in services. These unique partnerships have resulted in a total of 3,399 jobs and the accumulative economic impact of $461 million during the year 2000. OSC offers incentives for commercial as well as government use of the underutilized capacity at Government-Owned-Contractor-Operated (GOCO) Army Ammunition Plants. A cost-effective alternative to base closure, the ARMS initiative benefits communities where these facilities are located by helping to retain or create jobs, generate revenue, and stabilize or enhance industrial development. The OSC is responsible for management and disbursement of ARMS funds to U.S. Army ammunition facilities seeking to attract private commercial and industrial investment and business activity.

The ARMS initiative was established by an Act of Congress in 1993 and is designed to make available a range of incentives to businesses willing to locate on a government ammunition production facility. Many of these facilities have little or no current production. ARMS is designed to encourage facility contractors at the Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) ammunition industrial facilities to use and market idle capacity for other work, both government and commercial.

Facility use contracting allows the managing contractor at the GOCO ammo facilities to market the facilities as if they were their own. In this way,US Army industrial sites can find a new life as thriving commercial manufacturing centers while enhancing readiness, maintaining the infrastructure, making capital improvements, lowering the unit cost of production, continuing environmental remediation and contributing to local economic growth.

Simply stated, Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support (ARMS) is an opportunity for business growth and expansion using government ammunition industrial facilities and equipment. The contractors are finding innovative ways to attract commercial work to these industrial facilities. Idle capacity and capability available at these facilities for use by the private sector include land, buildings, equipment, utilities, communications, transportation and skilled workers.

To promote this effort, the Army under the auspices of the ARMS program, will make available various incentives, such items as: marketing funds; use of land, buildings, and equipment; existing state and federal permits; loan guarantees; planning grants; and possibly employment incentives. This innovative approach saves tax dollars, benefits large as well as small and disadvantaged businesses, supports the return of off-shore US companies, and mitigates the economic effects on the local communities.

ARMS can generate jobs and attract investment to these installations. By employing a wide range of facilities use techniques, the ability exists to tailor commercial relationships to meet the specific market needs to the private sector client. No other defense reutilization program has shown such promise as a means of promoting economic growth and sustainable development in local communities.

Operation Enterprise markets and communicates this important economic development program and its opportunities and benefits to the public and business community. Operation Enterprise is the national marketing initiative for the United States Army Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Program (ARMS). Operation Enterprise is a cooperative marketing effort of ten industrial locations that offer cost effective manufacturing and office space. The Operation Enterprise effort is managed by the Pendulum Management Company LLC (PMC), an asset management company that is dedicated to maximizing the value of government assets and technology. PMC is headquartered in Charlestown, Indiana.