U.S. Army Buys Non-Standard Weapons From ATK

(MoneyWatch)  The U.S. Army awarded Alliant Techsystems a contract to procure non-standard weapons worth about $20 million. This seems like a fairly mundane contract on the surface but how the contract is being administered and what is being purchased make it interesting.

While the contract will be managed out of the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, MO the actual work will be done overseas. Because the contract is to purchase AK-47 assault rifles, magazines and spare parts most of the work will be done in countries using former Soviet weapons. These include Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania.

The U.S. has been supplying weapons and ammunition to both the Iraqi and Afghan armed forces who are reliant on former Soviet weapons so it make sense that they would invest in this type of contract. In 2008 a twenty-three year old Floridian, Efraim Diveroli, was arrested and charged with various types of fraud for establishing a company that received a U.S. contract to supply Soviet caliber ammo. The contract was for new ammo supposedly to come from China but Diveroli was salvaging old bullets and passing them off. It came to a head when men working for him in Albania died in an accident.

The U.S. made the wise decision to maximize the use of stocks held by Iraq and Afghanistan of old weapons but they still need to support them. This contract puts an experienced ammunition company in charge of doing the procurement and support. This will aid in the correct management of the Government's money and lead to products being delivered to the correct quality.

The contract will also help Bulgaria and Romania who as former Warsaw Pact countries have seen their economies hit hard with the global recession. This is especially true of any domestic arms industry that they have. This contract might lead to further work from other countries or parts of the U.S. Government.