But OTOH - nobody forges, molds, machines, etc. an artillery shell body with the HE filler already in place. Same as nobody molds plastic or glass milk bottles with the milk already inside.
Also, how do you think the DPRK makes it shells? :-).
You, for better and for worse, are thinking like an honest person. Who wants to actually produce a badly-needed product.
Please try to understand that General Dynamics managements' ethics and motivations bear no resemblance whatever to yours. And that "incompetence" is just not the right word for this kind of situation.
EDIT:
> ...with two years of effort...
Two years since the factory "was brought online". There was another two years before that, setting it up.
The military just did not need so much tanks for their modern conflicts. However that tank plant was the one major employer in this town and losing that could cost a career politician his seat!
I’m so glad that the lack of term limits allows for such long term thinking and political expertise.