Organic Industrial Base & Heraldry
Each OIB of ASC has their own lineage, history, and heraldry that establishes their identity. Some follow their history back further than others. The ASC History Office maintains information pertaining to the heraldry of each OIB's heraldry.
In this set of tabs, you will find more information about the Army's Organic Industrial Base Installations.
Anniston Munitions Center (ANMC)
Anniston Ordnance Depot was established in 1941. In 1952, a maintenance mission was given to the depot for the overhaul and repair of combat vehicles. In 1962, it was renamed Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) and became part of Army Materiel Command (AMC). In 1998, operational control of ANAD was transferred to Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) following its ownership Industrial Operations Command (IOC). When it was transferred to TACOM, the ammunition mission and its resources were renamed the Anniston Munitions Center (ANMC). ANMC became a tenant of ANAD and officially came under the full command and control of Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) in Richmond, Kentucky. ANMC received its first on-site commander in 2004 and remains an integral part of the Army’s Organic Industrial Base (OIB).
Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD)
The Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) was established in 1941 in Richmond, Kentucky. It began operations in 1942 as an ammunition and general supply storage depot (originally as Blue Grass Ordnance Depot). In 1964, it merged with Lexington Signal Depot in Avon, Kentucky to become the joint Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot. The Lexington facility was selected for closure under Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in 1998. In September 1999, after Lexington closed, the BGAD received its current designation.
The depot safeguarded America’s chemical munition stockpiles, which completed demilitarization on 7 JUL 2023.
Camp Stanley Storage Activity
In 1906-07, an area of about 17,000 acres near Leon Springs (north of San Antonio) was acquired by the U.S. Army as a training ground and firing range. In 1917, the area was named Camp Funston in honor of MG Frederick Funston. It was soon renamed Camp Stanley in honor of BG David S Stanley, a Medal of Honor recipient during the Civil War. The rename was to reduce confusion with another Camp Funston located in Kansas.
The training grounds continued to be used during World War I. It hosted the First Officers’ Training Camp and later the 57th Infantry Regiment, which included then-LT Dwight D. Eisenhower. An additional 16,000 acres were leased in 1917, and a new camp (Camp Bullis) was established. Together, Camp Bullis and Stanley became the Leon Spring Military Reservation.
Chemical Materials Activity
In 2003, the Army combined elements from the U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command and Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization to consolidate the Army’s chemical agent, munitions storage, and demilitarization functions under a single organization. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) managed the nine chemical weapons stockpiles, assessed and destroyed recovered chemical warfare materiel, and managed the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program to support communities around the stockpile sites.
The nine stockpile sites were located at Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon; Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah; Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado; Pine Bluff Chemical Activity at Pine Bluff Arsenal; Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana; Blue Grass Chemical Activity at Blue Grass Army Depot; Anniston Chemical Activity at Anniston Army Depot; Edgewood Chemical Activity at Aberdeen Proving Ground; and Johnston Atoll Chemical Agency Disposal System (JACADS) on Johnson Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
In December 2006, the Agency completed the destruction of the Nation’s former chemical warfare production facilities, binary chemical weapons inventory in November 2007 and declared recovered chemical warfare materiel in 2010. By January 2012, all chemical weapons were destroyed at seven of the nine U.S. stockpile sites, eliminating nearly 90 percent of the original declared chemical stockpile.
In July 2012, the Agency was redesigned from a major subordinate command to a separate reporting activity under Army Materiel Command (AMC). It was then renamed Chemical Materials Activity.
Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD)
In 1928, Hawthorne Navy Ammunition Depot was established with the primary mission of storing ammunition and related components. This included bombs, rockets, propelling charges, projectiles, missiles, grenades, small arms, chemicals, pyrotechnics, depth charges fuses, detonators, bulk explosives, smokeless powder, and fuel-air explosive devices. The depot served as the staging area for bombs, rockets, and ammunition supporting the war in Europe during World War II. In 1944, it began helping with the demolition of allied and enemy ammunition.
The depot was transferred to the Army in 1977 as part of the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition. This concept was designed to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. Upon this transfer, it was renamed the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant (HWAAP). HWAAP transferred from a Government-Owned, Government-Operated (GOGO) installation to a Contractor-Operated (GOCO) installation in 1980. On 1 OCT 1994, it was renamed Hawthorne Army Depot.
Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP)
In 1943, Holston Ordnance Works (HOW) began the production of explosives. The U.S. government contracted Tennessee Eastman Corporation to research a way to make large quantities of explosives that were needed to combat German U-boats in the North Atlantic. The facility was originally designed to produce the most powerful conventional explosives. By January 1944, HOW produced and shipped over one million pounds of explosives per day.
HOW was decommissioned at the end of World War II but reactivated during the Korean War. The plant was renamed Holston Army Ammunition Plant and has been in continuous operation since.
Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP)
Construction of the Iowa Ordnance Plant began in January 1941. The plant produced its first set of munitions in September and continued until the end of World War II.
In 1946, the plant was changed from a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facility to a Government-Operated (GOGO) facility with 277 employees. The mission was changed to ammunition storage, surveillance, munitions demilitarization, facilities renovation and reconditioning. In 1949, the Army resumed ammunition manufacturing. The plant became a GOCO again under Mason & Hangar-Silas Mason Company in 1951. In 1963, it was renamed the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP). IAAAP increased production during the Vietnam War and was modernized through the 1970s.
In 1975, the Army designated IAAAP the core plant for warhead and heavy artillery loading with the mission to produce, load, assemble, and pack munitions. Through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act of 2005, IAAAP gained several missions from other closing ammunition installations and has actively modernized to support those missions.
Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP)
Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) was established as the Lake City Ordnance Plant in 1940 as one of 12 smaller-caliber ammunition plants constructed in support of World War II. LCAAP has operated continuously, except for the five years between World War II and the Korean War. The installation was renamed Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in 1963.
Through the 1970s, the Small-Caliber Ammunition Modernization Program modernized certain production processes with high-speed, computer-controlled, automated production systems. The plant continued to modernize and increase efficiencies through the 1990s but did not require a great production increase in support of the Gulf War.
After the September 11 attacks, workload increased significantly in support of the Global War on Terror. LCAAP established a link production capability, while modernizing to reach an annual production capacity of 1.6 billion rounds. Today, LCAAP plays a critical role in sustaining the Army’s small-caliber ammunition supply chain to ensure Joint Warfighter readiness.
Letterkenny Munitions Center (LEMC)
On 18 DEC 1941, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson ordered the acquisition of 20,000 plus acres near Chambersburg. Construction began before the end of the year. In January 1942, survey crews began to establish boundaries, and temporary offices were set up using existing houses and outbuildings of residents that had already moved in. Contracts were awarded in February for the construction of railroad tracks and depot roads. Personnel began reporting for work that same month. By 23 SEP, the depot had 802 igloos ready to receive munitions and soon the first nine railcars were delivered loaded with munitions.
In early 1944, the Ordnance Depot had two missions: supply the troops and stockpile munitions to support the invasion, if needed. The depot’s chief mission was to receive and store. It processed two million pounds of munitions per month. Letterkenny set ordnance records in May and August 1944 and was ranked the “Greatest Export Depot in the Nation.” By the end of 1946, post World War II, the depot’s ammunition demilitarization program was developed. This program burned approximately 76,000 chemical shells and demilitarized 600,000 anti-tank mines.
In 1954, the mission for rebuilding guided missiles was assigned and 100 new igloos were constructed. The depots mission expanded again in 1959 to provide initial supply and support of guided missiles, ballistic missiles, and rocket materiel.
In August 1962, the depot was transferred from the Chief of Ordnance to Army Materiel Command (AMC). It was then renamed Letterkenny Ordnance Depot. In 1964, the closure of Olmstead Air Force Base allowed five missile technicians to transfer to Letterkenny; starting the Joint Missile Team. In February 1967, Letterkenny officially began the testing, along with the maintenance and repair, of Air Force missiles. In 1968, new construction allowed for maintenance on conventional munitions and the Air Force’s Nike Missile Systems.
In 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission brought the first Army Tactical Missile (ATACMS) maintenance mission to Letterkenny. In 1994, the maintenance operations were transferred. Letterkenny performed maintenance on five different variants of ATACMS and later the Guided Multiple-Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). In 1999, the Directorate of Ammunition Operations was renamed the Letterkenny Munitions Center (LEMC). Command and control was given to Crane Army Activity and separated from the Letterkenny Army Depot.
In 2016, the Secretary of the Army designated LEMC as the Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence (CITE) for surveillance, receipt, storage, issue, testing and repair for the ATACMS and GMLRS. LEMC is a training site for Reserve ammunition units. In May, construction began on a state-of-the-art Ammonium Perchlorate Rocket Motor Destruction (ARMD) facility. The ARMD facility was completed in 2019 and uses a confined-burn system which captures the rocket motor exhaust by-products before the gas reaches the atmosphere. This reduced production pollution by 98 percent during the demilitarization process.
McAlester Army Ammunition Plant (MCAAP)
In 1940, Congress responded to the President’s call for a Navy large enough to meet any potential combination of hostile forces and authorized the “Two Ocean Navy.” The Naval Ammunition Depot-McAlester was commissioned to support western coastal facilities. The depot was originally built and operated exclusively by and for the Navy. In 1943, the depot’s mission was to produce, store, and ship ammunition, bombs, and mines for the Navy’s ships and aircraft.
In 1975, the Department of Defense issued a directive which assigned the Army as the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition. The depot was transferred to the Army in 1977 and renamed the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.
Under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), McAlester acquired the Sensor Fused Weapon and missile warhead production mission from Kansas Army Ammunition Plant. It also acquired demilitarization, storage, and maintenance missions from three other installations.
Quad City Cartridge Case Facility (QCCCF)
The deep-drawn cartridge case production capability was located at the former Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant (RBAAP) in Riverbank, California. RBAAP was closed through Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in 2005, and the brass and steel deep-drawn cartridge case capabilities were relocated to Rock Island Arsenal. The new facility was completed in 2011 and named the Quad City Cartridge Case Facility (QCCCF). QCCCF was laid away in 2014 due to decreased procurements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) began the reactivation of QCCCF for research, development and production efforts in 2017.
Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP)
Construction of Radford Army Ammunition Plant began on 7 SEP 1940. By 5 APR 1941, it began producing propellants and energetics in support of the war efforts in Europe and the Pacific. At the end of World War II, operations at the main plant and the New River Unit were temporarily discontinued. The Nitric Acid area of the plant was reactivated from 1946-49 to produce ammonium nitrate with propellant production resuming in 1949.
The Korean War required rehabilitation of large areas of the plant to accommodate military needs. This construction took place from 1950-58 and included a new area that enabled the plant to produce cast propellant charges for rockets and missiles. The Vietnam war created a need for increased production of various propellants. As the war declined, the need for propellants also declined. During this time, planned improvements were made to the plant to meet emerging requirements.
In 1995, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) took over as the operating contractor and modernization efforts continued to increase production throughout the plant. On 1 JUL 2012, BAE Systems became the operating contractor.
Scranton Army Ammunition Plant (SCAAP)
Originally constructed in 1908 as a steam locomotive erecting and repair facility, Scranton Army Ammunition Plant (SCAAP) was established in 1953. Until 1963, it was operated by the U.S. Hoffman Machinery Corporation. Following the end of this contract, Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation became the operating contractor.
General Dynamics-Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) assumed operation of the facility from Chamberlain in 2006 and is the current operating contractor.