U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal's February 2015 newsletter: The Salvo

U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal February 2015

THE SALVOExpanding the market,

one tube at a timeStory on Page 3

Page 2 Salvo Feb. 28, 2015

The Arsenal Salvo is an authorized monthly publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of the Salvo are not necessarily the official views of, or an endorse-ment by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Watervliet Arsenal. News may be submitted for publication by sending articles to Public Affairs Officer, 1 Buffington Street, Bldg. 10, Watervliet, NY 12189, or stop by office #102, Bldg. 10, Watervliet Arsenal. The editor may also be reached at (518) 266-5055 or by e-mail: [email protected]. The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted for publication.

Commander, Col. Lee H. Schiller Jr.Public Affairs Officer, John B. SnyderEditor, John B. SnyderPhotographer: John B. Snyder Arsenal Facebook Page @http://on.fb.me/sq3LEm

ColonelLee H. Schiller Jr.

CommandingManufacturer 6

Commander’sCorner

For more than 200 years, women here have skillfully performed in just about every critical position, from packing flannel ammunition cartridges to ordering raw materials to machining cannons, thereby greatly contributing to the Arsenal’s storied history. Given such a distinguished lineage, I can’t help but wonder why it took the U.S Army until the 1970s before it integrated women into male-dominated career fields or why it took our Congress until 1987 to proclaim that March is National Women’s History Month. But suffice it for me to say, it feels good that others have followed the Arsenal’s lead. As a part of recognizing and celebrating such diversity, I look forward to you joining me at the Annual Diversity Day Luncheon on Wednesday, March 4th. The event will include the presentation of the Martin Luther King Award to someone who not only supports diversity, but also promotes it. Speaking of diversity, have you seen the variety of products that we have been working on lately? We recently shipped a 120mm ballistic test mortar system that will in the next week or two be tested at the Yuma Proving Ground. And in the next few weeks, we will have completed work on an experimental 155mm howitzer tube, as well as axles

for trucks. This work is going on alongside other production for tanks, artillery, and for mortars. This diverse workload proves that there is no complex machining that we cannot handle. We are nearly halfway through our fiscal year, which began last October, and I will tell you that each month it seems as if the light at the end of the tunnel gets a little brighter in regards to workload. We have a significant number of quotes that we are working, some of which are multimillion dollar orders. So, stay the course and continue to give us a 100 percent effort every day. It appears the worst is behind us in regards to workload uncertainty, but we are not out of the woods just yet. Nevertheless, we are heading in the right direction for sustained workload predictability.

mailto:[email protected]


By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 4, see “MDA”

Missile Defense Agency to experience Arsenal quality

Looks can be deceiving by simply looking at this lone tube for the Missile Defense Agency and wonder why the Arsenal would bid on a con-tract for one tube. But in today’s era of declining defense budgets, the Arsenal seeks work from non-traditional sources as an investment in the future. In essence, some hope that this tube may open the door for future contracts with the Missile Defense Agency.

The Arsenal announced this month that it was awarded a contract valued at nearly $30,000 to provide a machined 30-foot propulsion barrel to the Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency. While the dollar amount of this order ranks among some of the smallest the Arsenal has received in the past year, what is significant about this order is that this is the first time the Arsenal has supported this research and development agency, said Bill Dingmon, the Arsenal’s chief of manufacturing. “A few years ago, we would not have given any thought about developing a quote for a project as

small as this,” Dingmon said. “But in today’s era of declining defense manufacturing requirements, we cannot afford not to consider all contracts that may lead to more work in the future.” At the end of the day, adding the Missile Defense Agency to our portfolio speaks volumes about the quality of machining that we do, Dingmon said. There was another critical consideration the Agency had when it was deciding whether or not to give Watervliet the contract ̶ could the Arsenal do it now?

Photo by John B. Snyder


MDA Cont.

According to Bruce Pienkoski, the Arsenal’s project manager for this order, beyond the consideration of cost, which did come in about 50 percent lower than other quotes, was that the Missile Defense Agency needed the barrel immediately. “The value of being an Army-owned and operated manufacturing center is that we can shift production priorities overnight,” Pienkoski said. “In regards to the Missile Defense Agency, they requested a quote on January 13, by January 26 we were machining the barrel, and on February 11 we shipped the tube.” The barrel will be used in simulation studies of high-altitude extraction of a payload from an aircraft.


Photos by John B. SnyderLeft: Machinist Christopher Herold using a guide-boring machine on the tube for the Missile Defense Agency in late January. Right: Arsenal Packager Adam Putnam putting the final touches on the Missile Defense tube before it shipped this month.

Quality Control Inspector Remy Polacinski preparing the Missile Defense Agency tube for one of many quality control checks prior to the tube going to packaging for shipment.


Army awards Watervliet $15M to upgrade tanks

By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 6, “Tanks”

The Arsenal announced this month that it has re-ceived $15 million in new contracts to provide the U.S. Army with tank tubes, breech blocks, and breech mechanism assemblies as part of the Army’s efforts to upgrade several hundred Abrams main battle tanks. Tom Pond, the Arsenal’s director of operations, said that although the Arsenal has a long history of manufacturing parts for U.S. tanks, this order came in as a pleasant surprise given the current environment of declining defense dollars. “When the Budget Control Act of 2011 was imple-mented in 2013 by the way of sequestration, the ef-fects had an immediate and negative impact in regards to the amount of work the Arsenal had on its books,” Pond said. “Sequestration caused a great deal of fis-cal uncertainty within the Army, which then caused

weapon program managers to either reduce orders or to not award contracts at all.” What this work means to the Arsenal is that over the course of the next few years the Arsenal will have an additional 40,000 hours of direct labor require-ments, which does not include several thousand hours of indirect labor that will also be tied to these orders, Pond added. Despite the importance of increased revenue in an era of declining budgets there is an added benefit to these orders that is unique to Watervliet. “Although we now celebrate all orders, big or small, these large orders are key to our retaining a critical manufacturing skill base for our nation,” said

The Army awarded the Arsenal $15 million to upgrade tanks similar to this Abrams main battle tank from the Minnesota National Guard that is racing through a breach in a barbed-wire obstacle during a Combat Training Exercise at the Orchard Combat Training Center, Idaho, Aug. 21, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Leon Cook, 20th Public Affairs Detachment.


Tanks Cont.

Mary Fischer, the Arsenal’s program manag-er for the order. “The Defense Department expects the Arsenal to retain a high degree of expertise in 11 critical skills that are re-quired to manufacture large caliber weapon systems for our troops.” To the Arsenal workforce all work is not equal, Fischer said. For these orders, the workforce will exercise all 11 critical manu-facturing skills, which range from rotary forging to heat treatment to complex machining, whereas other production requirements, such as mor-tar production, may only exercise seven of the 11 critical skills. Production for the bar-rels will begin this year, but due to the long lead time for raw materials, produc-tion for the breech blocks and mechanisms will not start until 2016. The upgrade to the Abrams tanks is the result of the great research and design work done by the Army’s Benét Laboratories, which is located on the Watervliet Arsenal. Benét has designed an Ammunition Data Link for the Abrams tank that will provide the tank crew the ability to fire the Advanced Multi-Purpose (AMP) and M829A4 Advanced Kinetic Energy (AKE) rounds. This ADL is an electronic signal pathway from the fire control processor to a chambered programmable tank round. The portion of the pathway designed by Benét Laboratories carries the signal from the tur-ret signal network to the rear face of the chambered round. The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-

operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, con-tinuously active arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. Today’s Arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $100 million. The Watervliet Arsenal is the only place in the Department of Defense where those who do military weapons research and design work (Benét Laborato-ries) are within a five-minute walk of those who will machine their design (Arsenal manufacturing). This synergy provides an environment of rapid response to the emerging needs of today’s Army.

Top: Machinist Tim Fontaine, left, and Apprentice Josh Feldman prepare a 120mm Breech Ring for machining last August for Yap Films. Yap Films, an independent film company out of Toronto, set up cameras and lights throughout the Arsenal August 13-20 to capture footage for a documentary film titled, “Troop Factory.”Left: Machinist Wayne Pelletier work-ing on a 120mm tank tube.

Photos by John B. Snyder

Tonko visiting the Benét site is that at one location he was able to see how computer-aided designs are transformed into finished prod-ucts for military and civilian ap-plications,” Bennett said. “Then when you add in the synergistic manufacturing development that is

achieved by hav-ing Benét Labs collocated with the Watervliet Arsenal manu-facturing center, Representative Tonko was able to see firsthand how responsive this site is to the needs of the Army.” Beyond the standard overview briefing that high-lighted Benét’s research and design work for legacy and future weapon systems, Tonko was shown

some of the tools, such as three-di-mensional modeling and laser scan-ning, that Benét engineers use for prototype development. These digital


Story continues on page 8, “Tonko”


The Army’s Benét Laboratories leveraged an opportunity here this month to tout the current state of U.S. Army weapons research and design to Congressman Paul D. Tonko (D-NY). Tonko, who was selected earlier this month to serve on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technol-ogy, visited the Watervliet Arse-nal in an effort to learn more about the Army’s efforts in additive manu-facturing. “For us (Unit-ed States) to com-pete effectively in what is truly a global race, we must invest more in science and technology,” Tonko said. “Af-ter all, the art of discovery is in our DNA, and it is a part of our pioneer spirit.” Benét Labs, which falls in Tonko’s Congressional District, has since the 1980s been using additive manufacturing, such as Stereo-Lithography, a forerunner to 3-D

printing, in weapons research and design, said Timothy O’Connor, a Benét Labs engineering technician. Benét was one of the first, if not the first, in the Army to use a form of 3-D printing. Lee Bennett, the director of Benét Labs, said that his research

and design engineers use all as-pects of additive manufacturing tools, from 3-D printing to Stereo-Lithography to Laser-Engineered Net Shaping, to enhance existing capabilities. “The value of Congressman

NY Congressman sees, touts innovation and change

at Benét LabsBy John B. Snyder

Benét Lab’s Mechanical Engineer Eric Brown, right, explaining to U.S. Rep. Paul D. Tonko how the Laser-Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) machine is used to repair parts for the U.S. military and for private industry. Tonko visited the LENS lab on Feb. 23, 2015.



models are the starting point for 3-D printing. Some of the benefits of 3-D printing are that at a fraction of the cost of traditional manufacturing Benét can verify fit, form, and function of complex assem-blies, as well as produce prototype parts and actual hardware. In addition to showcasing the capability of additive manufacturing tools found at Benét Labs, there was one other critical piece of information that the Benét workforce was compelled to state. “The true value of what Benét Labs brings to the Army cannot be measured by the number or the type of machines and tools that we use,” said Timothy Ged-ney, a Benét Labs mechanical engineer who briefed computer-aided design. “What we truly wanted to highlight is the value of our intangible qualities, such as experience, pride, and dedication to the mission, which are qualities that truly make our work unique to Army research.” Before Tonko departed he said that he was inspired by the great change and innovation that is going on at Benét Labs. It is amazing to see how technology at Benét Labs is making our troops more survivable on the battle-field, as well as making life better for our troops by reducing the weight of weapon systems, Tonko said. Benét Labs uses additive manufacturing technology to join materials when making objects from 3-D model data, usually by adding layer upon layer of materials, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodolo-gies that removes material by way of a machining pro-cess such as cutting. Laser-Engineered Net Shape (LENS) is another Benét Labs additive manufacturing capability that uses laser power and metal powder to repair or build solid metal components. Components can be fabricated or repaired directly from CAD data. Creating fully func-tional components as part of the design process may save hundreds of hours of design and manufacturing time because with the LENS process, there is no need to create a mold or casting pattern, as parts can be fab-ricated directly from the designers’ CAD data.

___________________________________________ Benét Laboratories: -Benét Laboratories is a Department of the Army research, development and engineering facility located at the Watervliet Arsenal. It is a part of the Weapons & Software Engineering Center (WSEC), Armament Research, Devel-opment, and Engineering Center (ARDEC), which is located at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. -Benét Laboratories is within a five-minute walk from the Arsenal manufacturing center whose machinists will manufacture the prod-ucts that Benét engineers design.

Tonko Cont.

New York Congressman Paul D. Tonko, left, being shown by Engi-neering Technician Timothy O’Connor some of the 3-D printing of medical products that Benét has worked on.


Appreciating our Diversity

BLACK HISTORY MONTHBlack History Month, or National African American History Month, is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role they have played in U.S. his-tory.

The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. Few could have imagined African Americans’ future contributions to music, art, and literature that would be recognized by the global community.

Each February, the United States Army honors the re-markable contributions that African-American men and women have had in the building of our Nation. We, at the Arsenal, celebrate these contributions by recognizing select employees who have significantly contributed to our country, while also being an example of the goodness that African- Americans provide to our communities. One such person highlighted this month is Evette Mortimore. Evette was born and raised just down the road in Sche-nectady, N.Y. In 1985, she joined the Army and served honorably for eight years. Her military travels took her to the southern states and to Germany. While serving as a records specialist in various assignments, Evette learned about different cultures and that life went well beyond her hometown of Schenectady. Today, Evette has two chil-dren, Diimond and Dominique, who she considers her pride and joy. In 2004, Evette started her career at Watervliet Arsenal and quickly became a star through her dedication to mis-sion and for her exciting personality. Since 2004, she has worked as a Forklift Driver, Material Expediter, and as a Material Handler. As an expediter, Evette greatly contrib-uted to the armor kit line that provided lifesaving protection to combat vehicle drivers and their crews. Evette currently

works for the Logistics Management Division where she vows to never leave because she considers her coworkers as family. She states that her logistics family is some of the most mission-focused team members that she has ever worked alongside. Evette said she feels that Black History Month can be best celebrated by recognizing the many opportunities that exist in our country today. She considers her life as a good example of how much our country has changed and she is thankful for the opportunities the Army gave her as a Sol-dier and as a Department of the Army Civilian.

By Debbie Moody

Evette Mortimore being congratulated for her excellence at work by Commander Col. Lee H. Schiller Jr. at a town hall meeting.

Photo by Billy Martin


City of WatervlietMemorial Day Parade

Monday, May 25thSave The Date:

The Arsenal is participating in the City of Watervliet Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m.

We will need volunteers to march with the commander in the parade.

We also have been invited to participate in the Village of Green Island’s Memorial Day Parade that will take place on Thursday, May 21st, 6 p.m. We try to support that parade with one float and a couple of emergency service vehicles.

Body Forge The Body Forge Fitness Center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, thereby, giving no one an excuse not to work out. If you aren’t a member, give Melissa Ryder, the Arsenal’s recreation program manager, a call at 266-4829.


Prayer Breakfast It usually takes a significant event, such as a 200th anniversary or in this case, a Prayer Breakfast, to get a former Arsenal commander back for a visit. And we weren’t disappointed this month when retired Col. John Hostettler spoke at this month’s Prayer Break-fast. Hostettler commanded the Arsenal from 1994 to 1996. Hostettler recalled the years of when he was in command having to deal with reduced workloads, a Reduction in Force, and a visit by the Base Realign-ment and Closure Commission. All of which, he said, contributed to him being referred to as that “Sweet old boy” in the headquarters building. Although he could have directed his remarks to those “good years,” he didn’t. His words talked of the values of “Integrity and Trust,” values that transcend all walks and generations of life. He said it was great to be back, albeit he is a little slower and worse for wear. But whether one knew him or not, it was great having a piece of Arsenal his-tory, if only for a morning, to help us remember those who walked before us creating the American treasure that we know as the Watervliet Arsenal.


Col. (Ret.) John Hostettler

Boots to Business The Michael R. McNulty Center for Veteran Entrepreneurial Activity kicked off its Boots to Business: Reboot program at the Watervliet Arsenal on Jan. 26, 2015. The weeklong entrepreneurial training program was offered at no cost to Veterans who want to start, expand or purchase a small business. The five-day, accelerated program was presented by the University at Albany’s Small Business Development Center with assistance from the Veterans Business Outreach Centers, Small Busi-ness Administration, and the Arsenal Busi-ness & Technology Partnership. The Center will host a second offering of this course at the end of March. Photo provided by the Arsenal Business & Technology Partnership


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U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal's February 2015 newsletter: The Salvo

News & Politics