The war in Ukraine has turned into a World War I-like conflict, with soldiers huddling in trenches as artillery blasts the landscape, cities, and homes around them. That’s led to a staggering amount of artillery rounds being depleted daily, and Ukraine’s allies are at pains to keep up with the demand. Ukraine has been firing up to 7,000 artillery rounds per day, according to EU figures, while Russia has blasted up to 50,000 rounds per day.

Add those numbers up, and you get a maximum of 1.7 million artillery shells being depleted each month, in a war that’s already been raging for 14 months. Since many expect the war to drag into next year and possibly beyond, this situation has created demand not just from Ukraine, but from the U.S. military, which has seen its own artillery reserves drawn down as a key supplier of Ukraine’s arsenal.

To satisfy that demand, there needs to be more supply—and some of that could soon be churning out of a new plant in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.

General Dynamics plans new artillery casings plant in Mesquite 635 industrial park

According to a report in today’s Dallas Morning News, Florida-based General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has selected a 240,011-square-foot building in the Mesquite 635 industrial park on LBJ Freeway at U.S. Highway 80 as the home of a new artillery casings plant.

The DMN’s Steve Brown says the global aerospace and defense company could be expanding into two other new industrial buildings on the site, as well.

“Once the installation is complete, the manufacturing facility will effectively produce 20,000 units per month for the Department of Defense, which will contribute to the inherently necessary defense capabilities of the United States and our allies abroad,” General Dynamics said in a letter to the city cited by the DMN.

Artillery casings only, not the explosives that blast them

The Mesquite plant would be manufacturing artillery casings only, without manufacturing or storing any explosives, Brown notes. That’s a key point, because the Mesquite city council must still approve the project—which could provide jobs to around 50 salaried employees and 75 to 100 hourly employees.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has an ongoing partnership with Garland-based True Velocity—an innovative manufacturer of composite ammunition headquartered not far from Mesquite 635 park whose parent company said last November it was planning to go public. 

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