Manufacturer catalog
U.S. military ordnance contractors describes the U.S.-based private companies and government-owned, contractor-operated plants that produced bombs, ammunition, projectiles, and related ordnance for the armed services.
1 weaponsU.S. military ordnance production has historically combined Army ordnance authorities, private industry, and government-owned, contractor-operated ammunition plants. The Army Center of Military History describes wartime procurement as a War Department and private-industry effort that manufactured huge quantities of munitions, while National Archives records preserve the contract administration and plant records behind that production system.
This manufacturer grouping covers cases where public sources identify broad U.S. ordnance production rather than one branded company. It is most useful for munitions whose design, procurement, or plant-level production sat inside the Army and Air Force ordnance system, including M117-family bombs and ammunition produced through contractor-operated plants.
The M117 is a U.S.-origin 750-pound-class general-purpose bomb from the 1950s. Air Force reporting describes the M117 and B-52 as entering the inventory in the same period, and the weapon record carries this broad U.S. ordnance-manufacturer attribution.
Sources: Blast from the past: Last M117 bomb dropped near Guam coastThe M117D was the destructor and mine configuration within the M117 bomb family. The Air Force article describes an M117-family configuration with a magnetic-influence fuze for mine function, while T.O. 1-1M-34 documents the M117D retarded-bomb and destructor details.
Sources: Blast from the past: Last M117 bomb dropped near Guam coast, T.O. 1-1M-34 Aircrew Weapons Delivery ManualNational Archives records for the Office of the Chief of Ordnance preserve reports on government ordnance plants, contractor administration, and production records, showing how U.S. ordnance work moved through a mix of military and contracted channels.
Sources: Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance
The Army Center of Military History's Ordnance Department history describes how the War Department and private industry manufactured huge quantities of munitions and distributed them through the field service.
Sources: Ordnance Department publications catalog, The Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply
Library of Congress HAER documentation for the St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant describes it as a government-owned, contractor-operated facility established during World War II to produce small-arms ammunition and 105 mm artillery projectiles.
Sources: St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant HAER record
Library of Congress documentation for the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant describes it as a government-owned, contractor-operated installation built during 1940-1942 and the first of six similar facilities.
Sources: Lake City Army Ammunition Plant HAER record
This manufacturer grouping describes a dispersed U.S. ordnance-production network rather than one legal entity. Headquarters and corporate-relationship fields are omitted because the cited records describe Army ordnance administration, private contractors, and contractor-operated plants instead of a single company.
Category
Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.
