in US procurement news, U.S. is Falling Short on 155mm Artillery Shell Production: Current Output and 1 Million Goal Timeline
Although significant efforts to ramp up artillery ammunition production — efforts that have cost billions of dollars — the U.S. has still not reached its planned output targets. As of June 2025, the total monthly production volume of 155mm artillery rounds stands at 40,000 units. This was reported by John Reim, head of the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Ammunition and Armaments, in an interview with Defense One. According to the Pentagon’s plans announced in February 2024, the target for April 2025 was set at 75,000 rounds per month, with a goal of reaching 100,000 by October 2025. However, despite the current rate of 40,000 155mm rounds per month, the U.S. Army remains confident it will reach the target in early 2026. This means the U.S. will be able to produce more than 1 million 155mm artillery rounds only in 2026.
As Defense Express notes, it is crucial not to confuse a round with a projectile. The figure of 40,000 refers to the number of 155mm projectiles, a level the U.S. reached back in September 2024, according to a Pentagon report. However, a complete round also includes a propellant charge and a fuze. According to that report, while 40,000 projectiles were produced, only 18,000 charges (likely meaning full sets) were made. In other words, as of September 2024, the U.S. was effectively producing just 18,000 complete 155mm artillery rounds per month. In the eight months since then, the U.S. defense industry has managed to double complete round production — a notable achievement. Still, the major gap in charge production compared to projectiles is due to a shortage of propellant and the fact that the U.S. had no domestic production.
Currently, all U.S. artillery charges are manufactured at the Valleyfield facility near Montreal, Canada, which is owned by General Dynamics. However, production is being relocated to the U.S. at new American Ordnance plants in Middletown, Iowa, and Camden, Arkansas, where another General Dynamics facility will also be built. In parallel with expanding shell body production and increasing the capacity for filling them with explosives — which remains a challenge, as 100,000 shells per month would require 66,000 tons of explosives, much of which is currently imported — these developments will enable the U.S. to eventually reach the target of producing 100,000 complete 155mm rounds per month.
So, it's up to 40,000 projectiles - that's from 14,400 at in 2022, which is not even an extra 30,000 in 3-and-a-half years, and they're supposed to get to 100,000 by next year 
. For comparison, the daily usage by Russia is 10-20k, with a peak of 60k some time ago.
But wait, it gets better - it seems like production may have actually gone down from last year
spoiler
The Army recently told Congress that 155mm production currently stands at 40,000/month. This is of course a decrease from the 50,000/m LaPlante stated last year.
We now have a likely explanation for why it fell. The new shell body production facility in Mesquite, TX is massively behind schedule. The first two of three production lines are still not fully completed, and the third is likely to miss its due date. The Army has formally notified General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems that their management of the facility is being reviewed for breach of contract. They have until July 10 to detail how they might be able to get things back on track.
As a result, the Army's Load, Assemble and Pack capacity exceeds their ability to produce the metal parts of the projectiles. Previously there was a stockpile of shell bodies that were being drawn on by the LAP facilities, but those must have been exhausted, so projectile production has now fallen to 40,000 which is what the other metal parts plants can produce. Mesquite's 3 lines are supposed to produce 10,000 shell bodies each.
Once again, the West's mockery of the Russians for relying on old stockpiles is 
. It's Cold War era stockpiles all the way down!
More details on the potential breach of contract: Army ‘considering terminating’ General Dynamics’ oversight of new 155mm production lines
... the service is now “considering terminating” the GD deals for all three UPLA lines, according to a June 13 letter from Army Contracting Command (ACC) to the company. “GD-OTS has failed to complete the projects on time or make meaningful progress towards meeting the required completion dates of design and installation of the three (3) UAPLs,” the Army wrote in the letter. ... “Because GD-OTS has failed to meet significant milestones for UAPL 1, leading to six (6) missed First Article Test dates spanning April 2024 through June 2025, resultant schedule impacts have continued to extend [to] UAPL 2 and UAPL schedules,” the Army explained. “Specifically, for Line 3, since January 2025 alone GD-OTS’ estimate for equipment installation slipped three (3) months, thus extending total installation timeframe and subsequent line prove-out activities into 2027.”
Additionally, the service said that even after it was determined that Line 1 equipment did not meet “technical requirements of the contract,” the company continued shipping Line 3 equipment. As a result, there is a “significant risk” that similar Line 3 equipment will also not be up to snuff. Compounding the issue, on May 29 GD-OTS notified Army officials that it had halted work on UAPL 3 “on its own accord,” a decision taken without direction or concurrence from the service.
yeah that contract I signed up for? yeah I'm just not gonna do like a third of it man, I just don't feel like doing it 
“Because GD-OTS has failed to perform the UAPL Task Orders… within the timeframe required by the contractual terms, the USG is considering terminating” the deals but a final decision has not been made, the Army added. The letter does not go into detail about what other companies could be tapped to replace GD-OTS.
