History of the Ammunition Industrial Base - JMC - U.S. Army

as an organization separate from PEO Ground Combat Support Systems (GCSS) and all
ammunition PMs moved under PEO Ammunition. In order to address Joint issues, the structure
included a PM for Joint Services to integrate requirements from the Services and coordinate with
the SMCA. Soon after creating PEO Ammunition, DoD directed a study to reassess the
effectiveness of the SMCA and the Executive Director for Conventional Ammunition (EDCA).
While ammunition acquisition had been consolidated, the relationship of PEO Ammunition with
the rest of DoD remained unclear, especially in light of August 2000 disagreements over
transitioning.
In November 2001, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Acquisition,
Technology, and Logistics) directed the Joint Ordnance Commanders Group (JOCG) to conduct
a special study of the SMCA to update policy and documents. In early 2002, a SMCA Study
Group began the process that included a rewrite of DoDD 5160.65 and DoDI 5160.68. It took
until January 2004 for both rewrites to be published. Meanwhile, the Army remained focused on
life cycle management, the mission of U.S. Army Operations Support Command (OSC) as the
primary field operating agency, and the question of whether PEO Ammunition was actually a
total consolidation of Army ammunition management. 146 The latter question was easily
answered: no. Other Army PMs with munitions interest remained separate from PEO
Ammunition. These included PMs Soldier, Smart Munitions, Air Missile Defense, and others.
The question on the role of OSC revealed misunderstandings of the SMCA system. Many,
inside and outside OSC, seemed to believe OSC was the SMCA, not just the field operating
agent. Finally, AMC continued to argue for reintegration of the PM system into AMC for better
coordination of acquisition and sustainment.
Many different ideas and concepts were proposed. OSC argued for retention of the
SMCA where it was (AMC and EDCA) and creation of an Ammunition Command to ensure
consolidation. Others argued that SMCA should move to ASA(ALT) and the PEO Ammunition.
In many of these concepts, the EDCA was disestablished and used to man PM Joint Services.
Finally, in October 2002, the CG AMC and the ASA(ALT) received a briefing on solutions for
Army ammunition management. On 1 November 2002 the ASA(ALT) sent a memo stating his
intent to recommend to the Secretary of the Army that the delegation for the SMCA be shifted
from the CG AMC to the ASA(ALT) and then redelegated to PEO Ammunition. In January
2003 the Secretary of the Army delegated SMCA responsibility to the ASA(ALT). In April
2003 the ASA(ALT) further delegated that responsibility to PEO Ammunition. 147
Charter and DoD Regulation Changes
The decision to shift the SMCA to PEO Ammunition was not the end of the story of
SMCA transition in the new century. In December 2002, PEO Ammunition requested
establishment of a team to update the SMCA Charter. This request came at the same time the
JOCG SMCA Study Group was conducting its study. However, the Charter rewrite had to wait
for the completion of the DoDD and DoDI. The JOCG members influenced the SMCA Study
Group who remained strongly interested in ammunition sustainment and the issue of transition.
At the same time, AMC continued to push for reintegration of acquisition and sustainment.
AMC presented its ideas in the form of Life Cycle Management Commands (LCMC) that placed
146 Operations Support Command was the successor to the IOC.
147 The discussion on contending options is derived from a wide variety of notes, emails, and briefings on file at the
JMC History Office as are the 28 Jan 2003 and 16 April 2003 delegation memos.
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