The U.S. Army has ordered frangible training ammunition valued at $13.8 million from Federal Premium, a purchase based on a contract the company was awarded in 2017. The cartridges are 5.56 NATO MK311 Frangible Ammunition, which is more commonly known by ordnance code AA40.
“We have a long history of providing high-quality specialty ammunition to multiple branches of the U.S. military,” said Federal Ammunition President Jason Vanderbrink. “Their continued trust is of the utmost importance to us, and is something we are certainly most proud of. With this, Federal Ammunition continues to demonstrate surety of supply, professional capability, the ability to meet all specifications and reliable delivery on production expectations of our military contracts.”
“One of the differentiators of AA40 is the use of Federal’s exclusive Catalyst primer,” said Federal Vice President of Law Enforcement, Government and International Sales David Leis.“It’s a lead-free technology that provides the most reliable, consistent ignition possible. Unlike many other lead-free primer formulations, Catalyst primers have unique properties that allow them to be effectively and safely used in service ammunition. Catalyst primers have been used in hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition delivered to military, law-enforcement and commercial customers to-date.”
The cartridges also feature a 50-gr. frangible bullet, which has a gilding metal jacket that surrounds a non-toxic tungsten and copper and tungsten powder matrix core. In 2018 the FBI purchased 9 mm training cartridges from Federal loaded with the same bullet technology. The projectile’s design minimizes ricochet hazard and over-penetration by fragmenting on impact into small pieces.
The most recent purchase is the second sizeable order based on the June 29, 2017 agreement—which is firm-fixed-price contract that expires June 25, 2022—with the U.S. Army. The military branch also placed an order worth $12.9 million in October 2019.
