{"id":517300,"date":"2026-03-11T15:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/517300\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:47:12","slug":"anniston-munitions-center-completes-armor-tile-maintenance-mission-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/517300\/","title":{"rendered":"Anniston Munitions Center completes armor tile maintenance mission | Article"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>              <a class=\"rich-text-img-link\" href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2026\/03\/11\/114cc2d6\/original.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Anniston Munitions Center completes armor tile maintenance mission\" data-full-desc=\"A member of the Anniston Munitions Center\u2019s workforce prepares a reactive armor tile for a fresh coat of paint.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/size0-full.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n              <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                          1 \/ 2<\/p>\n<p>                Show Caption +<br \/>\n                Hide Caption \u2013<\/p>\n<p>                A member of the Anniston Munitions Center\u2019s workforce prepares a reactive armor tile for a fresh coat of paint.<br \/>\n                 (Photo Credit: Courtesy)<\/p>\n<p>              <a href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2026\/03\/11\/114cc2d6\/original.jpg\" title=\"View original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>              <a class=\"rich-text-img-link\" href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2026\/03\/11\/cb02a950\/original.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"3\/4 ABCT beefs up tanks with reactive armor\" data-full-desc=\"Tank and maintenance crews with 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, install M1A2 Sep V2 Abrams tank reactive armor tiles (ARAT) at the 7th Army Training Command's Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Feb. 28, 2017. The installation of the ARAT will enhance the tank's defensive capabilities, providing a greater deterrent against aggression as the 3rd ABCT maintains a persistent presence in central and eastern Europe as the rotational ABCT for Atlantic Resolve. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Malcolm Rios)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773244032_189_size0-full.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n              <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                          2 \/ 2<\/p>\n<p>                Show Caption +<br \/>\n                Hide Caption \u2013<\/p>\n<p>                Tank and maintenance crews with 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, install M1A2 Sep V2 Abrams tank reactive armor tiles (ARAT) at the 7th Army Training Command&#8217;s Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Feb. 28, 2017. The installation of the ARAT will enhance the tank&#8217;s defensive capabilities, providing a greater deterrent against aggression as the 3rd ABCT maintains a persistent presence in central and eastern Europe as the rotational ABCT for Atlantic Resolve. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Malcolm Rios)<br \/>\n                 (Photo Credit: Capt. Scott Walters)<\/p>\n<p>              <a href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2026\/03\/11\/cb02a950\/original.jpg\" title=\"View original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ANNISTON, Ala. \u2014 The Anniston Munitions Center has completed an almost decade\u2011long mission to refurbish three types of reactive armor tiles (RATs) for combat vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>RATs play a vital role on a wide range of Army wheeled and tracked platforms, providing essential protection against credible enemy threats and safeguarding the Soldiers who operate them.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, ANMC, a government-owned, government-operated facility, and a subordinate installation of the Joint Munitions Command, provides timely and accurate receipt, storage, surveillance, inventory, maintenance, issue, and demilitarization of missiles and conventional ammunition in support of joint warfighters.<\/p>\n<p>The armor tile maintenance mission reflects ANMC\u2019s technical capability and its ability to take on complex sustainment work beyond its traditional munitions focus. The project required workers to receive, clean, inspect, repair and repaint over 100,000 RATs. As the workload expanded, ANMC refined its processes and developed new efficiencies that improved both speed and quality.<\/p>\n<p>          \u201cEvery year, our people got better, faster and more confident in what they were doing,\u201d said Eric O\u2019Barr, ANMC\u2019s director of ammunitions operations. \u201cYou could see their skills sharpen with every batch of tiles that moved through the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The RATs mission, which represented a sustained commitment to readiness and cost\u2011effective sustainment, provided challenges to ANMC\u2019s personnel. However, they adapted to shifting requirements, production surges and evolving technical standards while maintaining strict safety and quality controls.<\/p>\n<p>Completing the refurbishment in-house generated substantial savings for the Army. By restoring existing RATs rather than purchasing new ones, millions of dollars in procurement costs were saved. The refurbished tiles helped alleviate shortages and maintain production schedules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery tile we returned to service meant one less the Army had to buy, and that adds up quickly. It\u2019s a direct example of how smart sustainment decisions can preserve resources without sacrificing capability,\u201d O\u2019Barr said. \u201cOur team understood the importance of that balance, and it drove them to deliver consistent, reliable results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 A member of the Anniston Munitions Center\u2019s workforce prepares&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-517300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}