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Further Reading

Lake City Army Ammunition Plant

Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) located at Independence, Missouri, in Jackson County, is the largest small-arms (5.56 - 20 mm) manufacturing plant in the world. With the exception of the five year period between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Korean conflict, this government-owned, contractor-operated facility has been in continuous production since October 1941.

Lake City AAP is within the city limits of Independence, MO, on the eastern edge of the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area. It encompasses 458 buildings on 3,935 acres.

Lake City AAP manufactures and proof-tests small arms ammunition. The plant was opened in 1941 and operated by Remington Arms Company, Inc. from 1941 through 1985 (except for the nonproduction years). From September 1941 to August 1945 the plant produced more than 5.7 billion cartridges. It was placed in standby status in December 1945 but was reactivated in 1950, again to produce small caliber arms ammunition. It stayed in operation after the Korean War and again expanded during the Vietnam War, producing 14.4 billion cartridges between 1965 and 1973. In the 1970s the facilities and production systems were upgraded.

In 1985, Olin Corporation won a bid to operate the plant and is its present contractor. Lake City is currently the only active small-caliber ammunition manufacturing facility within the Department of Defense.

In May 2001 the U.S. Army presented Lake City Ammunition Plant with its Secretary of the Army Environment Quality Award for an industrial installation. The Secretary of the Army recognized the efforts of the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant to improve the environment. The Plant has reduced its hazardous waste generation rate by sixty percent eliminating twenty tons of air emissions per year. At the same time, it has operated in compliance with twenty-five different environmental permits and recycled over fifty-five hundred tons of material. Through the hard work of nearly eight hundred fifty employees, the Lake City Ammunition Plant has proven that it can continue to be the largest supplier of small caliber ammunition to the United States Department of Defense, while retaining a superb record on the environment.