An ammunition plant in the Pennsylvania city of Scranton has implemented a 50% increase in the production of 155 mm artillery shells, many of which are sent to Ukraine, government officials said to the press on Aug. 27.
The role of the U.S. domestic defense industry and the associated creation of local jobs has been championed by proponents of U.S. aid for Ukraine. The General Dynamics plant in Scranton, an industrial city that is also the birthplace of President Joe Biden, is in the process of a historical modernization project.
The Scranton plant has upped its output of 155 mm shells from 24,000 rounds per month to 36,000, with the modernization elements likely to contribute to a further increase, factory officials said.
"Right now we're concentrating on 155. That's pretty much all we're concentrating on," said Richard Hansen, the U.S. Army's representative at the plant. General Dynamics is producing the 155 mm shells on contract with the U.S. military.
"Lives depend on (the job of the factory workers) — the lives of the gun crew, the lives of innocent civilians depend on this round doing exactly what we want it to do out in the field," Hansen said.
The plant, which employs about 300 people, could prove to be a useful talking point on the local economic benefits of U.S. support for Ukraine amid the heated campaign for the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania in the upcoming presidential election.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine more than 3 million 155 mm shells since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to government records.
The shells are a key element of Ukraine's arsenal.
Ukraine's European allies have scrambled to up their production of the 155 mm shells but fell far short of its promise to deliver 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine between March 2023 and 2024. After supplying only about half of the promised rounds, Brussels shifted the deadline to the end of 2024.
Nate Ostiller
