ProPublica investigation reveals Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid contract for Texas plant that produced zero usable shells

On August 12, 2026, ProPublica published an investigation finding that the U.S. Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid contract awards for an artillery-shell plant in Mesquite, Texas that has never produced a single usable 155mm shell since it opened in May 2024. In December 2022, Congress granted the Department of Defense special authority to fund Ukraine-related weapons production without normal contracting safeguards, dropping competitive bidding requirements and easing restrictions on "undefinitized contracting actions" that let a contractor begin work before contract terms are finalized. The Army used that authority starting in November 2022 to award General Dynamics a series of no-bid contracts, eventually worth close to $600 million, to build three production lines using unproven flow-forming equipment from a Turkish subcontractor, Repkon, without requiring General Dynamics to first demonstrate the equipment could make shells meeting Army specifications.

The plant was plagued from its May 2024 opening by equipment fires, malfunctioning robots, structural failures in the buildings themselves, and shells that failed inspection, according to interviews with three dozen current and former General Dynamics, Army, Pentagon and White House officials and a Department of Defense inspector general report. The Army ordered work halted on two of the plant's three production lines in August 2025 after General Dynamics missed eight deadlines, but did not terminate the contract awards. In December 2025, the government paid General Dynamics $26.3 million in "progress payments" for the idled second and third production lines despite neither having ever produced a usable shell, the inspector general's report found. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into hazardous smoke at the plant in October 2024 but issued no penalties.

General Dynamics executives repeatedly told investors the plant was performing as planned even as internal conditions showed systemic failure; CEO Phebe Novakovic said in July 2024 that "the first line is running and producing as we anticipated" when it was producing no usable shells, according to former plant workers. The Army imposed no financial penalty on General Dynamics or Repkon and has not recouped the $533 million spent. Since halting the two production lines, General Dynamics' Ordnance and Tactical Systems division has received $2.5 billion in new Pentagon contract awards, which the Army says covers unrelated production lines and defense requirements. A separate Department of Defense inspector general evaluation found that as of March 2026 the Mesquite facility still had not produced any of the metal projectile parts it was contracted to make, contributing to the Army falling well short of its goal of producing 100,000 155mm shells per month.