U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Assistant Secretary Douglas Bush toured the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center on Thursday as the U.S. prepares to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine and Poland.
Photo by Mackenzi Klemann | The Lima News
LIMA — The U.S. Army will spend about $580 million to modernize the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center over the next 15 years, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said during a visit to Lima Thursday.
Wormuth’s visit comes weeks after President Joe Biden confirmed that the U.S. will supply Ukraine with 31 M1 Abrams tanks assembled at the Lima tank plant.
“This is the best tank in the world,” Wormuth said. “It’s the most sophisticated thing that there is. It is made to incredibly exacting, rigorous standards. The level of quality and craftmanship that goes into is impressive.”
The Lima tank plant, a government-owned facility operated by General Dynamics Land Systems, is already working on orders from Taiwan and Poland, potentially delaying the shipment of tanks to Ukraine.
The U.S. plans to ship 116 recently retired Marine Corps tanks to Poland this summer, as the first shipment of Abrams tanks assembled here won’t be ready until January 2025, Wormuth said.
Poland ordered the tanks after it supplied hundreds of its own Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine last year.
The timeline for getting Abrams tanks to Ukraine is less clear, although NATO allies like Germany, France and the United Kingdom have agreed to send tanks to Ukraine as well.
Wormuth told reporters Thursday that some details, like which variant of the Abrams tank will be provided to the Ukrainians, are still being worked out.
“But certainly, the tanks being built here in Lima are essential,” she said.
Foreign defense contracts are nothing new for the Lima tank plant, which for years relied on the foreign contracts to keep the plant operational while the Obama administration considered temporarily shuttering the facility.
Today, the tank plant employs about 840 workers and produces a variety of vehicles, including the Abrams tanks and combat vehichles. The facility will soon start making turrets for newly designed light tanks.
And a 15-year, $17.6 billion plan to modernize the Army’s defense industrial base includes $580 million for the tank plant, Wormuth said.
“The workforce here is so impressive,” she said. “The quality of the work that they do, the pride that they take in their work … and the amount of economic activity that results from that in the area is powerful.
“So I think the fact that we’re going to be continuing to use this manufacturing center well into the future is terrific for the economic health of this area.”
