The Defense Logistics Agency has awarded Ohio steelmaker Metallus a sole-source contract worth up to $995 million for High Fragmentation 1 (HF-1) steel, the alloy used to make bodies of U.S. 155mm artillery shells, the U.S. Department of War announced Sept. 26.
The five-year, firm-fixed-price contract runs through Sept. 24, 2031, and has no option periods. The U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force are listed as using services. The $995 million figure is a ceiling; the announcement did not say how much steel will be bought or how much will be spent in the first year. Funding will come from fiscal 2025 through 2029 accounts. The Defense Logistics Agency’s contracting office in Columbus, Ohio, is managing the contract.
The agency awarded it without competition under a federal rule that allows sole-source deals to keep a producer available for industrial mobilization or a national emergency.
HF-1 steel is formulated to break into lethal fragments when a shell explodes. It forms the body of the 155mm M795 high-explosive round and the M1128 extended-range round, the main artillery shells fired by U.S. howitzers. An M795 weighs about 47 kg (103 pounds) and carries 10.8 kg (23.8 pounds) of TNT or IMX-101 explosive inside its HF-1 casing.
Metallus, formerly TimkenSteel, is based in Canton and has produced HF-1 steel for the U.S. military continuously since 1993. It normally sells the steel as a subcontractor, supplying billets to companies such as General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, which forge them into shell bodies.
The U.S. Army has spent the past two years expanding Metallus’ output as part of its push to build 100,000 155mm shells a month. In February 2024, the Army signed an agreement worth up to $99 million with Metallus, funded by Ukraine supplemental appropriations, to raise HF-1 capacity from 1,500 to 6,720 tons a month. It was the first time Metallus had held a prime contract with the U.S. military.
On Aug. 26, the Army and Metallus commissioned a new bloom reheat furnace, a roller furnace and supporting equipment at the company’s Canton facilities. The Army said that at full capacity the plant will make enough HF-1 steel for more than 120,000 155mm shell bodies a month.
The Army says its ammunition enterprise has opened 16 new facilities over the last two years as part of nearly $6 billion in investments in the defense industrial base.
Sources: DVIDS News · Shephard Media