Fiasco in the factory: a $533 million artillery plant that made nothing

ProPublica reports that a $533 million artillery factory built for Ukraine produced virtually nothing. General Dynamics opened the plant near Dallas — in the suburb of Mesquite — to turn out shells, but the machines kept failing: robot arms swung out of control and smashed equipment, the factory’s signature steel-stretching device cracked shell casings beyond repair, and giant press machines had to be pounded with a sledgehammer to work at all.

By August 2025, the Army had ordered work halted on two of the plant’s three production lines, and a July report from the Defense Department’s inspector general found the facility never produced a single usable shell. The Army says the failure cost taxpayers $533 million, but it has not required General Dynamics to pay any of it back, and the report stopped short of naming the company or the Turkish subcontractor that supplied much of the equipment.

The investigation draws on interviews with 36 current and former employees of General Dynamics, the Army and the Pentagon. General Dynamics declined an interview, told the inspector general it ‘met or exceeded requirements’, and called the article a ‘hit piece’. The Army says it will recover funds through discounts on future production orders.