Lake City Army Ammunition Plant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lake City Army Ammunition Plant |
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| Independence, Missouri in United States | |
 Crest of Joint Munitions Command
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 Lake City Army Ammunition Plant
Lake City Army Ammunition Plant
Location of Lake City Army Ammunition Plant
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| Coordinates | 39°06′4″N 94°15′47″W / 39.10111°N 94.26306°W |
| Type | Ammunition production facility |
| Area | 3,935 acres (1,592 ha) |
| Site information | |
| Owner | United States Army |
| Operator | Winchester Ammunition |
| Controlled by | Joint Munitions Command |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| Built by | Remington Arms |
The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) is a very large facility in Independence, Missouri. It's owned by the U.S. government but run by a private company. This plant makes ammunition (bullets) for both military and personal rifles.
The Lake City plant was started in 1941 by a company called Remington Arms. Its main job was to make and test small bullets for the U.S. Army. The plant has been working almost non-stop since it opened, except for a five-year break after World War II.
As of 2007, the plant was making nearly 1.4 billion bullets every year! Lake City also checks how reliable ammunition is over time. It's the biggest producer of small arms ammunition for the United States Armed Forces.
Contents
What the Plant Makes
The Lake City plant makes different types of ammunition.
Ammunition Types
- Cartridges: These are complete bullets, ready to be used.
- Components: Parts of bullets, like primers (which ignite the gunpowder).
- Pyrotechnics: Materials that produce light, heat, or smoke, often used in military signals.
- Small Caliber Ammunition: This includes common sizes like 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, 12 mm, and 20 mm.
Testing and Disposal
The plant also tests how well small bullets (like 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, and 9 mm) work. They also safely get rid of old ammunition and explosives.
History of Lake City Plant
The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant started in December 1940. It was first called the Lake City Arsenal. Production began in 1941. It was the first of 12 small arms plants built for the Army. Remington Arms built the plant with help from another company called DuPont.
Operators Over the Years
- Remington Arms: They ran the plant from the very beginning until 1985.
- Olin Corporation: Took over operations in 1985.
- Alliant Techsystems (ATK): Started running the plant in April 2001. This company later became Orbital ATK and then Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.
- Winchester Ammunition: Since October 2020, Winchester Ammunition has been in charge of running the Lake City Plant.
Ammunition Production Numbers
Between 2000 and 2018, Lake City made over 17 billion rounds of ammunition for the U.S. military. Since the late 2000s, the plant has been asked to be able to make 1.6 billion rifle rounds each year. To help meet this goal, they also sell bullets to the public. Since 2011, they have sold hundreds of millions of rounds commercially each year. Sometimes, they even sold twice as many bullets to the public as they did to the military!
Plant Facilities
The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant covers a huge area of about 3,935 acres.
Buildings and Storage
- It has 375 buildings.
- There are 80 magazines (special buildings for storing ammunition).
- It also has 25 warehouses and 14 igloos (another type of storage bunker).
- All together, these buildings can store items in an area larger than 650,000 square feet.
Environmental Cleanup
In the past, the Lake City plant used to get rid of its waste right on site. They used unlined ponds, landfills, and burn pits. This created a lot of potentially harmful waste.
Superfund Site
Because of this, the site was added to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List in 1987. This means it's a "Superfund site," which is a place that needs a big cleanup because of hazardous waste. The cleanup efforts are still ongoing to make the area safe.
Images for kids
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Finished outer boxes of the commercial pack, each containing 1,800 rounds, are palletized before the entire pallet is shrink-wrapped for shipment.
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Headstamp of a .50 caliber cartridge casing made at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in 1943 and recovered from the Sahuarita Bombing and Gunnery Range in 2012.
