George Roach, the product manager for these orders, said the significance of these orders represent an approval by the Defense Department to adopt a relatively new manufacturing process for the 155mm towed system that was developed here by arsenal manufacturing experts and by research and design experts from the Army's Benét Laboratories.
The Marines began testing the chrome tubes in 2016 at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, and the results were stunning. According to a May 2016 press report by Lance Cpl. Levi Schultz, 11th Marine Regiment, Marine artillerymen found the chrome tubes easier to clean than steel tubes because the chrome lining tended to shed off residue much easier. The Marines found that they could fire thousands and thousands of rounds before the tubes would start to show wear. These results were exactly what the arsenal leadership was hoping for from the testing. Roach said that this new manufacturing process represents a new era in advanced howitzer technology and manufacturing. "Given that there are more than 1,000 of these gun systems in the Army and Marine inventory," he said, "there is potential for the arsenal to receive more orders for full-bore chrome barrels as these orders only reflect about 20 percent of the inventory." The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, continuously active arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. The arsenal is a subordinate command to TACOM Life Cycle Management Command and the Army Materiel Command. |