Joint munitions command replaces operations support command. (News).

The Army Materiel Command provisionally established a new major subordinate command, the Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC), to succeed the Army Operations Support Command (OSC) in January. JMC's formal establishment will take place on 1 October. Major General Wade H. McManus, Jr., the commanding general of OSC, will continue as JMC's commanding general.

JMC has two major missions. It serves as the Department of Defense's field operating agency to execute the Army's mission as the Department of Defense's Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition. JMC will work closely with the Program Executive Office for Ammunition (PEO-Ammo) at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, in carrying out the complex mission of supplying the best possible ammunition to warfighters. PEO-Ammo will take the lead in areas such as research and development, acquisition strategy, and budget planning. JMC will manage the production, storage, issue, and demilitarization of conventional ammunition for all of the armed services. In all areas, the two organizations will coordinate plans and actions to ensure that customer requirements are met in a timely, cost-effective manner.

JMC also serves as a platform for projecting logistics power anywhere in the world through its subordinate Army Field Support Command (AFSC). AFSC maintains pre-positioned stocks of weapons and equipment stored at land-based sites around the world and aboard ships. As the "face to the field" for Army logistics, AFSC provides direct support to deployed combat units and operates sites such as logistics support elements near forward areas.

According to General McManus, JMC will focus on four "vectors"--

* Readiness reporting.

* Centralized management of ammunition.

* Planning for the future of the industrial base.

* Ensuring the success of the "ammunition enterprise" with PEO-Ammo and other partners in the public and private sectors.

JMC is headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. Its worldwide workforce includes approximately 220 military personnel, 5,100 Federal civilian employees, and 8,200 contractor personnel. The command manages an estimated annual budget ors 1.2 billion.

* Army Ordnance Weapons Command (OWC) 1955-1962

* Army Weapons Command (WECOM) 1962-1973

* Army Armament Command (ARMCOM) 1973-1977

* Army Armament Materiel Readiness Command (ARRCOM) 1977-1983

* Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (AMCCOM) 1983-1994

* Army Industrial Operations Command (IOC) 1994-200C

* Army Operations Support Command (OSC) 2000-2003

* Joint Munitions Command (JMC) 2003-

* Evolution of the Joint Munitions Command.