from 2021
Key Gunpowder Factory Mysteriously Exploded, US Production of the Chemical Now Totally Offline
Published April 28, 2023 at 5:15pm
A mysterious explosion at a gunpowder factory in Louisiana in 2021 that destroyed the facilities highlights a serious problem in America’s military supply chain that makes us all less safe in the face of growing threats from China and our other enemies.
As the Wall Street Journal pointed out on Wednesday, “Fewer weapons manufacturers, shortages and ‘single source’ contractors limit the Pentagon’s ability to ramp up production—including when the sole maker of a crucial type of gunpowder stopped producing.”
The explosion occurred two years ago at a gunpowder plant in Minden, Louisiana, when what the paper called “an errant spark” destroyed the entire facility in a plant that the Department of Defense relies on to produce bullets, mortar shells, artillery rounds and Tomahawk missiles.
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/key-gunpowder-factory-mysteriously-exploded-us-production-chemical-now-totally-offline