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Chapter 78 - A Long Journey[]
8 July 2787
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
Gerald Mitchell had a large list compiled by his research team and they verified that Colonel Gonzalez was dead on target with her assessment. One of his team had put in a request for select ammunition types and it had been denied due to no active combat in the region. He had then called Helen Froy, CEO of Froy Industries over for a consultation.
"Helen, so good to see you again. How is everything going over at your new complex?" Gerald Mitchell asked
"Good to see you too, Gerald. Progress is moving quickly, we should be ready for production within the next week or two. But you already know that, so what is on your mind?" Helen Froy asked
"Ammunition. The Federated Suns is at war as you know and I would love to be supplying ammunition to them. I know the work on the ammunition factory is progressing albeit slowly, and you have a Gauss ammo line, how difficult is that to make and how many did your line produce a day?" Gerald Mitchell asked
"My single Gauss ammo line could manufacture roughly 50 tons per day, never was a massive supplier on those for the SLDF but I supplied many manufacturers their test ammo. It is not too difficult, your talking about shaping metal spheres on CNC machines. The more CNC machines, the more Gauss ammo you make. I want to say that we the line ran 24 CNC machines, maybe an hour on each one. I honestly am not sure, but I can find out. Granted we never ran that line around the clock either. They are just twelve inch diameter steel balls after all. You could very easily crank that way up depending on how many CNC machines you put into operation making them. Since we are on the subject and I am sure your going to ask about them anyway.
The Streak SRM-2 line manufactured 5 tons per day but again, we were small time in that field and mainly supplied other manufacturers testing ammo. But I have a total of three of those lines, one original and two from my backup storage my father purchased long ago. But they are not top of the line equipment, ammunition production was more of a side venture for my father. For the Arrow IV, it was a little different, my father set that up for larger production and they are top of the line equipment. Standard Arrow IV we can manufacture 30 tons per day on a single line and I have two of them. But for the Arrow IV Homing rounds, well they use the same production lines so if a single line is each making a single type, then 30 tons a day of each type.
I looked over what your Colin Blaine grabbed on Terra and I must say, I am impressed. Those are top of the line manufacturing lines. Fully automated and can run around the clock. But you only have a single line devoted to anything high tech, LB 10-X ammunition, but it can manufacture about 200 tons a day of standard ammo but only 100 tons a day of the cluster ammo. We have three lines for standard LRM ammunition and three lines for standard SRM ammunition each capable of manufacturing 200 tons per day on each line. That much ammunition being made in a single day makes me nervous which is why I selected that spot way the hell away from anything. For better information than I just gave you talk to Unger over Trimble, I am sure he knows all about what your looking for and probably has the specifications for some serious machines to make all types of ammunition." Helen Froy said
"Helen, you are a godsend. I want that ammunition plant up and running as fast as we can get it done, but safely. No cutting corners on safety. I will be sure to speak again to Unger Trimble about this." Gerald Mitchell replied
"Might want to talk to Timothy over at Smythe, he will have to locate the ores to turn into explosives for us. He knows what to look for, but he is going to gripe some since those ores are not real money makers in his eyes. Not for the amount of work it takes to dig them out and refine them." Helen Froy said