Conflict · Ukraine artillery plant$533M Texas Artillery Plant for Ukraine Made Zero Usable ShellsAired August 15, 2026 at 4:53 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00A half-billion dollar howitzer shell0:02factory built outside Dallas has0:03produced not a single usable round for0:05Ukraine, leaving taxpayers to absorb the0:07full cost while the line sits idle. The0:09Mesquite, Texas plant cost [music] $5330:12million and was intended to rapidly ramp0:14up American 155-mm artillery production.0:18To date, the count of usable shells0:19[music] is zero. The facility was built0:21by General Dynamics to supply shells for0:23Ukraine at wartime speed, but the0:25production line has never turned out a0:27shell that could be used. The army0:29awarded the work without competitive0:30bidding to move fast. The plant was0:32built around untested [music] machinery0:34from Turkish supplier Repkon that failed0:35in multiple ways and could not produce a0:37usable shell. A Defense Department0:39Inspector General report flagged those0:40same machinery failures and offered only0:42[music] mild recommendations, while0:44neither the army nor the contractor took0:45responsibility. The administration is0:48now pushing Congress to raise the annual0:49defense budget [music] from $1 trillion0:51to 1 and 1/2 trillion, a 50% increase,0:54as critics warn the same procurement0:56pattern risks far larger waste. The0:58contracts were awarded to accelerate1:00production. The factory [music] was1:02completed around equipment that did not1:03work. Oversight flagged the failures1:06without forcing repayment, and a1:07confidential settlement this year1:09allowed the contractor to keep the plant1:11without returning the funds. The plant1:12[music] sits in Mesquite, just outside1:14Dallas, built for domestic production1:15intended for Ukraine. No public timeline1:18or added cost to make it operational has1:20been disclosed, and the shells remain1:21undelivered.1:22Like and follow for more stories that1:24matter.Explore with HeyDexThe shortThe short ↗