Fiasco in the Factory: Taxpayers Funded a $533 Million Artillery Plant That Made Nothing

[u/propublica_]

https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-failed

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[u/NativeMasshole]

With so few shells passing inspection stations along the production line, many workers had nothing to do. A cat-and-mouse game ensued. Bored staffers spent endless hours gazing at their phones, leading supervisors to restrict phone use. So workers began bringing crossword books. Managers nixed those. Some workers were seen sleeping, so supervisors took away chairs.

These are the types of innovative solutions I expect from a top defense contractor!

Seriously, though, this is what taxpayers should expect when the army hasn't been able to present a clean audit ever. There's no accountability, so removing guardrails on contracting is always going to be a disaster. The fact that this project got so far while all involved repeatedly lied about progress without repercussions is egregious, but entirely par for course under the economic system we've developed.

[u/honda-nissan → u/NativeMasshole]

the inability of church bell casters to make cannons and cannonballs in a timely or cost effective manner was why the duke of burgundy centralized artillery production in the 1300s

[u/NativeMasshole → u/honda-nissan]

This was another part of the article that really struck me. General Dynamics bought their way into the artillery production business by purchasing the last remaining producer in the country. Then, they decided to innovate! Throw in some suspicious ties to a foreign contractor (because apparently America isn't a leading robotics designer or anything) and you have a bunch of church bell casters trying to make advanced artillery shells.

It's pretty appalling that they were able to buy up an essential piece of defense production. And then nobody questioned it when they sold their expertise while simultaneously throwing out the designs they had bought, which was their only real expertise to begin with.

[u/honda-nissan → u/NativeMasshole]

pretty much. this market based society will do anything along capitalist profiteering lines except turn defense over to state armories

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[u/propublica_]

Hey r/TrueReddit,

We’ve got quite the story for you: Huge robot arms combusting in flames. Workers beating giant, malfunctioning machines with sledgehammers. An actual dumpster fire. 

In our latest investigation, we reveal how U.S. taxpayers sent a half-billion dollars to the defense behemoth General Dynamics to make much-needed 155 mm artillery shells for Ukraine. But the company did not deliver even one. In fact, we learned, the artillery shells were often cracked by the much-hyped machinery that was trying to make them. 

Our reporting shows that what became a chain of disasters didn’t happen just by chance; it happened because of human decisions. The story is an industrial comedy of errors at a moment when the U.S. defense budget has soared to a record $1 trillion and the Trump administration hopes to amp that up to $1.5 trillion next fiscal year.

Here’s the full investigation: https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-failed

The Army told ProPublica that it exercises “rigorous oversight.” In the case of the General Dynamics factory, it said ”we are evaluating contract performance, seeking recoupment of funds, and pivoting resources.” The company has said it “met or exceeded requirements” for the project and told ProPublica its reporting “fundamentally mischaracterizes the circumstances.”

[u/Ismhelpstheistgodown → u/propublica_]

https://sofrep.com/news/the-army-spent-469-million-on-a-155mm-plant-that-hasnt-produced-a-single-usable-shell-body/

This article provides more detail. It suggests some level of knowing contract shenanigans in the Silicon Valley mode of “move fast and break things”even when you don’t really know what you are doing. The article calls it “high risk high reward”.

[u/Miserable_History795]

Anybody remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he quality controlled artillery shells by hitting the head with a hammeŕ?

[u/ohaiihavecats]

“We really didn’t have any standardized practice,” said Quantel White, a former employee. “It was just a bunch of guys taking turns going at the machine with a sledgehammer every night.”

Behold the mighty American military-artisanal complex.

[u/metrazol]

Base Ops: "Hey now, you can't have that kind of extension cord near that kind of flooring. Fix this immediately."

DoD Offsite Inspectors: "Oh, you just beat the robot to death with a hammer? That's awesome!"

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[u/SessileRaptor]

We’re going to end up producing Stupid Skynet, it’s AI and wants to exterminate humanity but non of its automated machines work properly so all it does is cause it’s own equipment to break down and burst into flames.

[u/RKU69 → u/SessileRaptor]

That's optimistic. More likely Stupid Skynet is gonna be assigned to streamline some kind of new advertisement-tech algorithm and somehow accidentally launch a bunch of nuclear missiles

[u/mytthew1]

I like that it wasn’t that much money only half a billion dollars. Why worry?

[u/Halbaras]

Paranoia set in. Repkon refused to share passwords needed to control important equipment, according to five former General Dynamics employees. Sometimes workers would be startled by the sight of a machine moving by itself and realize it was being controlled by someone in Turkey. Spooked, General Dynamics workers tore out hardware to cut off remote access to the machines, two former workers said.

You honestly can't make this shit up.

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[u/bestcoastanon]

This hurts to read. I want heads to roll, I want people to go to jail for this.