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Inside America's bomb factory
MCALESTER, Oklahoma (CNN) -- If the United States goes to war against Iraq, the U.S. military will need huge numbers of bombs. Most, if not all, of those bombs will come from the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, a sprawling 42,000-acre complex with more than 2,400 storage facilities. CNN National Correspondent Gary Tuchman spoke to the workers assembling bombs at McAlester Wednesday, and reported back to CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips. PHILLIPS: Pretty fascinating stuff, Gary. TUCHMAN: Kyra, it really is very interesting, particularly because so many of us knew so little about this. McAlester, Oklahoma, is a small city about 100 miles south of Tulsa where unbeknownst to most of us, almost all of American's bombs used since World War II have been manufactured. Right now they're making an average of 200 bombs a day here at this Army ammunition plant, a total of about 74,000 bombs a year. What they like to say here is if it doesn't come out of a gun, it's very likely that they make it here in McAlester, Oklahoma. The bombs they make range from 20-millimeter tank rounds to 5,000-pound bombs. Right now we're with the explosives operation foreman Pete, who prefers not to have his last name used. Pete, what we're looking at right now it's a 5,000-pound bomb? PETE: Yes, sir, it's a 5,000-pound bomb. TUCHMAN: Now when you're here with your men and women, this is a dangerous job, isn't it? PETE: Yes, sir, it is. TUCHMAN: I mean last year or somebody on this plant was killed when a 2,000-pound bomb fell on them, so it's not just the explosive aspect of it, it's the heaviness of these bombs? PETE: That's right. That's right, it's the equipment and everything that we fool with every day. TUCHMAN: How does it make you feel knowing that the bombs that we see here will -- could ultimately be dropped during a battle, during wartime, and possibly kill people? PETE: We feel great about it. You know what they done to us in New York and stuff, we feel good about it so... TUCHMAN: And the people who work here are very patriotic, aren't they? PETE: It's more like a family. They all stick together. And we [are] kind of upset about what they do to us, so we're ready to do it. We do our job and give them this right here. TUCHMAN: And these are the biggest bombs you make here, right? PETE: Yes, sir. Yes, sir it is. TUCHMAN: And how many of these 5,000-pound bombs are made each day in this plant? PETE: In this building right here we make 10 bombs. TUCHMAN: Ten of those bombs and 190 other types of bombs. We should stress no nuclear bombs are made here, but virtually all the non-nuclear bombs used by America are made at this facility in Oklahoma. Now we haven't heard much about this place over the last 59 years and that's why we want to tell you that what's happening now, this is the first time, according to the officials here, that any television crew has done a live report on the grounds. But we are not able to do live reports where we just were where they're making the bombs. And the reason for that, according to the authorities, is that the frequencies we use for our live transmission could interfere with the bomb making and possibly cause a bomb to explode. PHILLIPS: Gary, we definitely don't want to see that on live television, but I do have quick -- two quick questions for you. We're all curious, why Oklahoma? Why is this in Oklahoma? And No. 2, I'm very curious to know about the security around this plant. TUCHMAN: OK, and the answer to your first question, they built this in 1943. It started out relatively small. It eventually just grew bigger and bigger. It's now run by the U.S. Army, but they provide the bombs for all four branches, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines. What started small in Oklahoma grew and remains here 59 years later. And regarding the security here, as you might imagine, it's very elaborate. You come in here, you're checked very carefully. What we have here is yellow strips. I mean it's hard for me to stand on one leg, but it's good exercise. See the yellow strips on my shoe right there? PHILLIPS: I can see them. TUCHMAN: Those ... those yellow strips are put on there to reduce the static electricity, because if you don't have those, it's possible that an explosion could result if you didn't have those on your shoes. So those are the parts of the steps they do to make sure you're safe here. Other things, to be very honest with you, we can't tell you about. There are certain ground rules. They have told us that we cannot reveal certain items, but there's a lot of security here.
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