ProPublica: GD's $533M Texas Shell Plant Made Ukraine Shells for Two Years, Made None
An investigation finds General Dynamics' Texas artillery factory, plagued by fires and equipment failures, never produced a usable shell despite $533 million in Army funding — and no one has been held accountable.
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Summary, timeline and people extracted by Claude from 19 items across 6 sources · 9h ago. Quotes are verbatim.
What to know
- General Dynamics' Texas artillery-shell factory, funded with $533 million in taxpayer money, never produced a single usable shell despite two years of operation.
- Equipment imported from a little-vetted Turkish subcontractor repeatedly caught fire, malfunctioned, and required manual sledgehammer repairs, according to four former workers.
- The Army halted two of three production lines in August 2025 after General Dynamics missed eight deadlines, but has not penalized the company or recovered any funds.
- General Dynamics remains in charge of the factory and continues to receive new Pentagon contracts, and plans to bring in another vendor to fix the plant.
How it unfolded
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ProPublica's posts about the investigation drew hundreds of engagements on Bluesky and were reposted across Mastodon, Threads, Reddit and news aggregators within hours of publication.
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Jesse Coburn's ProPublica investigation, based on interviews with four former workers, details the factory's repeated equipment failures, the $533 million cost to taxpayers, and the lack of accountability for General Dynamics or its Turkish subcontractor.
“We really didn't have any standardized practice. It was just a bunch of guys taking turns going at the machine with a sledgehammer every night.”
Quantel White · Mastodon ↗ - 6 weeks quiet
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A Defense Department inspector general report concluded the facility never produced a single usable artillery shell despite continued operation of the third line.
- 48 weeks quiet
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After General Dynamics missed eight deadlines, the Army ordered work stopped on two of the factory's three shell production lines; work continued on the third.
- 57 weeks quiet
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Former workers described robot arms drenched in oil catching fire regularly as they moved 1,800-degree steel blocks; one blaze melted a robot's cables and knocked it out for a week.
“After the second, third, fourth time, it just became almost normal. It got to the point where I was not surprised by anything that happened there.”
Former General Dynamics worker · Bluesky ↗ - 4 weeks quiet
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Defense officials and General Dynamics executives celebrated the opening of the factory's innovative machinery, imported from Turkey, at a gala ceremony only weeks before major equipment failures began.
What people are saying verbatim
“After the second, third, fourth time, it just became almost normal. It got to the point where I was not surprised by anything that happened there.”
Former General Dynamics worker, Anonymous former employee · ProPublica ↗ · Aug 11
“We really didn't have any standardized practice. It was just a bunch of guys taking turns going at the machine with a sledgehammer every night.”
Quantel White, Former General Dynamics employee · ProPublica ↗ · Aug 11
“The robot arms would swing out of control, smashing into carefully calibrated equipment, and sometimes they would unexpectedly drop hunks of steel 5 feet down to the floor.”
ProPublica, Investigative reporting · Bluesky ↗ · Aug 11
“Money for Nothing: Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable.”
JamesWNeal, Mastodon user · Mastodon ↗ · Aug 11
Voices from the web unedited
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NEW: General Dynamics opened a Texas factory to churn out artillery shells for Ukraine, but the machines kept breaking. Robot arms smashed into things. Hunks of metal crashed to the floor. There was even a real-life dumpster fire.
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“The U.S. Army, which funded the factory, ordered work halted on two of its three production lines in August 2025. By then, General Dynamics had blown eight deadlines. Work on the third production line continued, but the facility never produced a single usable shell, according to a report from the Department of Defense’s inspector general in July…
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The military budget is primarily a feeding trough for defense contractors. It’s absurd the amount we spend while our social safety nets are so weak.
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".. The robot arms would swing out of control, smashing into carefully calibrated equipment, and sometimes they would unexpectedly drop hunks of steel 5 feet down to the floor." @propublica.org $GD
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This is where your money went. We can't have food, or housing, or healthcare, or education, or any of the things we used to have because billionaires and warmongers are stealing all of our money. "Fiasco in the Factory: Taxpayers Funded a $533 Million Artillery Plant That Made Nothing" https://www. propublica.org/article/general…
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The plant could reach Sahara Desert temperatures when the furnaces or presses were on. “This is actually hell,” one worker thought to himself. Great reporting by @jessecoburn.bsky.social for @propublica.org
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«“It’s an absolute disaster,” said one former official in an Army office supervising the project. “The Army should’ve gone after recovering money from General Dynamics,” added the official, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity.» https://www. propublica.org/article/general…
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This story has so much: milspec crony capitalism begun under the Biden administration and continued in the Trump White House, rogue robots running amok, percussive maintenance with a sledgehammer, and even a literal dumpster fire. Fiasco in the Factory: Taxpaye...
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Money for Nothing: Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable. https://www. propublica.org/article/general -dynamics-artillery-factory-failed