Photo Courtesy of the Department of War
Nearly 1,400 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 778 are in the third week of a strike at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo. The facility is a major manufacturer of small-arms ammunition for the U.S. military.
The cutting-edge factory is designed and managed to scale up quickly to meet Department of War needs during times of conflict. The factory produces a modest excess in cartridges throughout the year—which are in turn sold on the commercial market to mitigate the cost of readiness—to retain experienced personnel capable of maintaining quality in high-volume times of urgency.
It’s unknown if there will be any impact on civilian ammunition prices and availability, particularly the 5.56 mm NATO and 9 mm NATO cartridges that traditionally come out of the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. At least one brick-and-mortar retailer in Arizona reported being out of stock in both cartridges by mid-April. Major online outlets at the same time were not suffering the same fate, however.