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The firms were the only ones able to meet the military's requirements, says Brig. To meet the increased demand, the Army last December let contracts worth $70 million each with two firms, Winchester Ammunition in East Alton, Ill., and Israel Military Industries Ltd., for each firm to produce 300 million rounds of small-caliber ammunition, supplementing the production from the Lake City plant. 'You have, in effect, a perfect storm of demand coming together,' says Bryce Hallowell, a spokesman for ATK. industrial base capable of producing ammunition required by the military, says Richard Palaschak, director of operations for the Munitions Industrial Base Task Force, an industry group. In addition, defense consolidation throughout the 1990s greatly diminished the U.S. The war has proved as deadly for troops in support roles as for those in traditional combat positions, causing the Army to redouble its rifleman-skills training for all troops headed for Iraq. The war in Iraq triggered not only an urgent need for small-caliber ammunition on the battlefield, but an even greater requirement for ammunition to be used in training troops mobilized for war. Post-Cold War military planning, specifically the decision to deplete ammunition stockpiles without replenishing them, and current hot wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have combined to dramatically increase demand for these rounds since late 2001.

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'The demands of current operations and the possibility of another major combat operation will cause the Army to make trade-offs between supporting full training requirements and meeting the contingency needs,' says Blount. The Army is able to supply enough ammunition to meet current needs 'without seriously impacting either training or contingency operations,' Blount says, but the use of ammunition for training would almost certainly have to be curtailed if the military becomes involved in additional combat operations.

Ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and stepped-up training requirements for troops deploying overseas are straining the industrial base, Blount says.

troops are burning through more rifle and machine-gun ammunition than they have since the Vietnam War. This hits home for a lot of us,' she says. A lot of our employees have sons and daughters serving in the military. Her son, a soldier in the 25th Infantry Division, will deploy to Iraq this summer. Karen Davies, president of ATK's Lake City operation, has a personal stake in the operation as well. troops in Iraq, who are expending nearly 6 million rounds a month from the rifles and machine guns that rely on the small-caliber ammunition. He commanded the Army's 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq, the unit that led the assault on Baghdad in April 2003. The challenge is not an academic one for Blount. Buford Blount III, an assistant deputy chief of staff for the Army, which is responsible for supplying small-caliber ammunition for all the military services. 'We're shooting it almost as fast as they can produce it,' says Maj. Today, ATK is producing 1.2 billion rounds annually, and it is retooling the 60-year-old Lake City plant to produce even more. In 2000, ATK, as the company is known, was producing about 350 million rounds a year at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, a government-owned facility operated by the company on the outskirts of Independence, Mo.

War has always been good for business, and the war on terrorism is no exception, especially for Alliant Techsystems, the company that manufactures more than 90 percent of the small-caliber ammunition used by the U.S. Military and industry officials are scrambling to meet the demand for small-caliber ammunition.