“And we have several different connections with AMC itself. One of the important links there is JMC’s deputy commander, who also is the executive director for conventional ammunition, which gives us a direct link to AMC.”

Unlike TACOM LCMC and AMCOM LCMC, JMC retained that name and structure, creating an adjunct JM&L LCMC rather than a single new entity.

“A good part of the reason for that is we were not co-located, as the other LCMCs were,” she explained. “But even with that separation, the relationship that was established for the LCMC concept is not any different than how the other LCMCs currently operate.”

AMC’s efforts to compact and synchronize its major commodity subcommands are well reflected in the evolution of JMC, especially since 9/11. AMC has become the conduit bringing similar organizations and efforts within those entities together, where appropriate, not only to reduce duplication, but also to increase and improve cooperation where there are commonalities.

“For example, we all have integrated materiel management centers, which share good ideas, discuss common issues and resolutions, etc.,” Huber said. “There also are a lot of special initiatives that bring us together to ensure we have a single integrated position on how we operate. One of those is the common installations study – how do we ensure we are all in sync?”

In addition to advances in technology, the significant changes in requirements from the height of the Cold War to Operation Desert Storm to the “peace dividend” realignments of the 1990s to both major conventional combat operations and asymmetrical counter-insurgency warfare in Southwest Asia have affected the types and quantities of ammunition provided by JMC.

“From the initial combat after 9/11 in Afghanistan and Iraq, the priority ammunition required was small and medium caliber, which was very different from Desert Storm, when we took helicopters and tanks into Kuwait and Iraq. Each war tends to be a little different, so we must meet those changing requirements, even between Iraq and Afghanistan, acknowledging the different terrains and how those impact requirements,” she said.

“The biggest thing we had to do was increase our capacity to produce the more demanded items – small through medium caliber ammunition. We had a solid stockpile of those, but projecting out with increased expenditures, we had to go back and ensure we had sufficient capacity, not just within our organic government facilities, but also commercial.”

As to how the continuing evolution in global DoD requirements, responding to an increasingly complex and shifting geopolitical and military environment, will affect JMC, Huber said that is nearly impossible to predict. The best JMC can do is continue improving the ammunition now in use or development in an effort to be ready to address whatever multiple combat scenarios may evolve. Those include more sophisticated conventional munitions, such as the 155 mm Excalibur round and the Enhanced Performance Round, which has turned the small unit mortar into a precision weapon for the first time.

“Changes will be based on the budget, which will require us to make the hard decisions, know what risks we can take without jeopardizing the needs of the soldier. We really have to put our strategic plans together for what we buy, for the industrial base, how we do logistics support, so those are integrated,” she explained, especially as the drawdown in Southwest Asia couples with cutbacks in the size and changes in the shape of the U.S. military and its budget.

“This is not a new cycle for us, looking back at previous conflicts. As we go from combat to peacetime, we know you don’t always have the money you had and so must react to keep the right ammo on hand and the facility to produce that. It is not an easy equation. We have become a very lean organization; even though 9/11 caused us to ramp up with dollars, JMC still has fewer people on board than before 9/11. So we’re doing what we need to do, but we also recognize that, for the ammo world, conflict is only a small portion of why we are here – 90 percent is to get support to training and prepare to continue that during peacetime.”

Looking back to what JMC and its predecessor organizations fielded during AMC’s first 50 years, from the early days of Vietnam to the closing days of Afghanistan, Huber and JMC historian Keri Pleasant listed what they believe to have been the most important for each decade:

“There was a lot of emphasis then on nukes, which distracted from major developments on conventional. Most of the improvements in later decades got their start in the 1960s, but most of what was actually used in Vietnam was technology from the Korean War era,” JMC historian Keri Pleasant said. “Vietnam was guerrilla warfare, relying heavily on helicopters, and so needed medium caliber munitions that supported those requirements, but advanced rounds were not really part of that war.

“A lot of production also was ramping up where there were shortages, such as artillery shells, which were used more than the original requirements statement, when it was thought Vietnam would be a much shorter war. It also was during Vietnam that the Army began switching from the M14 to the M16, which had a higher rate of fire that also led to more shortages.”

JMC historian Keri Pleasant reported there also was further development on cluster munitions, which had seen some use in Vietnam but did not really pick up until the 1970s. By the time the United States withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, the main funding focus was on improving conventional munitions.

JMC/JM&L LCMC Highlights

1960s

• Rockets – Fielding of 2.75-inch rockets as their use expanded during the Vietnam War
• Flare and Illumination Rounds – A high priority because of night combat operations

1970s

• Improved Conventional Munitions (ICMs) artillery rounds

• 120 mm rounds for the M1 series tanks

1980s

• Copperhead CLGP Fielded in 1982 (precursor to guided munitions)
• M242 Bushmaster and 25 mm ammo – M791, M792, M793, M910, MK210 and M919 – used on Bradleys
• ICM Kinetic Energy rounds
• Apache Hellfire missiles

1990s

• Smart Bombs – First laser-guided bombs fielded, with first large-scale use in Desert Storm

2000s

• “Bunker Buster Bombs”
• Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) GBU-57A/B
• Massive Ordnance Air Burst (MOAB)
• Joint Direct Attack Munition (AF-developed system) to attach guidance to general purpose “dumb” bombs
• Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) 5.56 mm M885A1 replaced the M885
• Excalibur M982 – 155mm satellite precision-guided artillery munition fielded; limited use to date

Funding increases during the Reagan Administration saw a lot of technologies originally developed in the 1950s and ‘’60s become part of the push to modernize or create more than 400 new weapons or equipment systems. That included the Copperhead cannon-launched guided projectile, a top priority in the 1980s; it was first fielded in 1982, but did not see actual combat use until Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

“New 105 and 120 mm tank rounds also were improved, coinciding with development of the M1 Abrams tank and Bradley fighting vehicle,” JMC historian Keri Pleasant said. “We also began small caliber conversion to the 5.56 NATO [rifle] round and fielded a new 9 mm pistol. Other developments then included the 105 mm XM833 Armor Piercing Fire Stabilized Discarding Sabot Tracer Cartridge and the Hellfire missile, which was fielded for the Apache helicopter in 1986.”

Desert Storm also saw the first significant use of cluster munitions. Other advancements fielded in the closing decade of the 20^th century included high-energy propellants, lighter sabots, penetrators of increased mass and length, new sabot designs, sub-projectiles, and fin designs, culminating in the M829A1. It was nicknamed “the Silver Bullet” by Desert Storm tank crews because it was widely regarded as the most effective tank-fired anti-armor weapon in the world.

Southwest Asia saw the first major use of sensor-fuzed multi-munition artillery rounds. There also was a lot of focus on IED-defeat technology, in which PEO-Ammo was heavily involved, and search-and-destroy armor (SADARM) munitions.