Loading AI tools
American firearms manufacturer for militaries From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U.S. Ordnance–Defense Systems and Manufacturing, often called USORD, is a firearms manufacturer in McCarran, Nevada, 20 minutes outside Reno. Since 1997,[2] the Nevada corporation has designed, developed, and manufactured military small arms, machine guns, and replacement parts.
U.S. Ordnance specializes in producing versions of the mature, combat-proven Mk43/M60E4 and M2 machine guns, making and testing them according to U.S. military technical specifications and instructions. U.S. Ordnance is the only manufacturer of the Mk43 machine gun.[citation needed]
The company's primary weapons are the M2HB, M2A2 (QCB), the Mk43/M60E4, the M60D Enhanced and the M16/M4/M203, all of which are sanctioned by NATO. U.S. Ordnance sells these to U.S. government agencies, including law enforcement and the military, and to federally approved foreign governments and militaries. It also provides training for its products.
M2 and M60 machine guns are in service in more than 47 countries.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance’s new plant is a 68,000-square-foot (6,300 m2) facility for product research, development, manufacturing and testing. A U.S. government representative is on site to witness and verify specific procedures in the production and testing of the weapons, and ensure all the required standards are met.[citation needed]
All the products that U.S. Ordnance develops are to NATO specifications.[citation needed]
The company ensures that all of its Mk43 and M2 improvements are backwards-compatible and that its M2 spares and components interchange with those from Maremont Corp. and Saco Defense.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance Research and Development personnel put the company’s weapons through drop testing and environmental testing like mud, ice, heat and water immersion to ensure they will continue to perform even in the harshest environments.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance has CNC machining centers and screw machines,[3] which are used to machine the various parts that make up each weapon. Other machinery includes high-capacity barrel production and Mil Standard plating equipment.[citation needed]
The company also uses a magnetic particle inspection machine for detecting surface and subsurface irregularities in the metal of its weapons.[citation needed]
In February 2006, much of the M60 production tooling (owned by the U.S. Army) was transferred from General Dynamics at Saco to U.S. Ordnance.[4][5]
U.S. Ordnance’s ISO 9001:2008 inventory control and storage process guarantees that only approved components and materials are used on its weapons.
Finished components are phosphated in-house using a U.S. government-certified Mil-Spec process. It involves application of manganese, which protects the steel surfaces from corrosion.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance also puts its weapons through a cold treatment. Called cryo for short, the process involves cooling the steel to about minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, which increases the martensite content in its crystalline structure. This hardens and strengthens the metal.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance uses cryo to relieve stresses in tooling and weapon materials, to increase the weapons’ service life, and to help resist wear.[citation needed]
U.S. Ordnance workers assemble and complete all of the company’s weapons in-house. All U.S. Ordnance packaging conforms to the military preservation, packing, and marking requirements of the current Mil Standard. UID and RFID marking are done as required.[citation needed]
Each weapon undergoes high-pressure testing and magnetic particle inspection. The company has an on-site shooting range, where personnel proof-fire every weapon for functionality and accuracy.[citation needed]
The quality assurance team checks all materials and parts. They inspect the material certifications, heat treat and test reports, and also perform dimensional testing on all of the parts to ensure they comply with the technical drawings.[citation needed]
Each weapon has a unique serial number, which means that all of the raw materials that went into making each one can be traced to their origins.[citation needed]
Once a weapon is completed, tested, and approved by Quality Assurance, it is packaged, labeled, and marked according to the current Mil Standard.[citation needed]
Some of the government contracts U.S. Ordnance has fulfilled include:
 |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
