[pseudohadamard]

What's so amazing is that with two years of effort they've managed to produce zero shells. Not a handful a month but absolute zero. I mean, I could get an apprentice to produce at least one shell a week using a grinder and a file but they've produced zero in two years with access to all manner of machinery, that requires quite some incompetence.

[bell-cot]

> What's so amazing is that...

You, for better and for worse, are thinking like an honest person. Who wants to actually produce a badly-needed product.

Please try to understand that General Dynamics managements' ethics and motivations bear no resemblance whatever to yours. And that "incompetence" is just not the right word for this kind of situation.

EDIT:

> ...with two years of effort...

Two years since the factory "was brought online". There was another two years before that, setting it up.

[AnimalMuppet]

An apprentice with a grinder and a file. Producing shells that contain high explosives. That might not be the wisest production plan...

[bell-cot]

On the one hand - you're correct that "an apprentice with a grinder and a file" could not possibly produce a modern-era artillery shell. They're just too complex.

But OTOH - nobody forges, molds, machines, etc. an artillery shell body with the HE filler already in place. Same as nobody molds plastic or glass milk bottles with the milk already inside.

[pseudohadamard]

The reason for the "grinder and a file" metaphor was because that's roughly the tech level at which Khyber Pass guns are made. Now I wouldn't necessarily put a +P load through them, but the better ones are reasonably functional.

Also, how do you think the DPRK makes it shells? :-).