The U.S. Army’s Armories: A Thing of the Past?

Alexander Kirss

Security,

Based on GAO estimates, Congress appropriated a combined $150 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to assist the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, Watervliet Arsenal in New York, and Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas.

The Springfield Armory, founded in 1777, successfully manufactured firearms for the U.S. military for nearly 200 years. Still, despite transitioning from flintlock muskets to the production of automatic weapons, the Armory was closed by order of then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1968. That such a previously essential manufacturing facility could be shuttered with few negative ramifications while the country was in the midst of the Vietnam War makes it all the more surprising that the U.S. army still directly produces military weaponry at three arsenals in Illinois, New York, and Arkansas. Less surprising, perhaps, is that, per a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), these facilities are nowhere near profitable. Indeed, they have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in direct subsidies over the past years in a vain bid to break even.

Based on GAO estimates, Congress appropriated a combined $150 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to assist the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, Watervliet Arsenal in New York, and Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. In FY 2015 the subsidies totaled $225 million. Pine Bluff and Watervliet similarly received subsidies from 2000-2006, with Rock Island also joining the dole from 2001-2007. Viewed differently, these facilities have only broke even at the height of recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most costly wars since World War II.