Department of the Army

Ordnance Operations (FM 4-30) Department of the Army

This field manual (FM) 4-30, "Ordnance Operations," provides fundamental guidance for the employment of United States Army ordnance maintenance operations, munitions operations and explosive ordnance disposal operations in support of unified land operations and warfighting functions. Unified land operations are how the Army seizes, retains, and exploits the initiative to gain and maintain a position or relative advantage in sustained land operations through simultaneous offensive, defensive, and stability operations in order to prevent or deter conflict, prevail in war, and create the conditions for favorable conflict resolution (ADRP 3-0). The purpose of the ordnance corps is to support the development, production, acquisition and sustainment of equipment- including weapons systems and munitions- and to provide explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), during peace and war, to provide superior combat power to the United States (U. S.) Army. The ordnance corps has a rich and robust history of supporting the force dating back from the American Revolution to present day. The future of our nation and Army will continue to be engaged in an era of "persistent conflict" a period of protracted confrontation among states, non-state, and individual actors increasingly willing to use violence to achieve their political and ideological ends. The ordnance corps must evolve and remain the indispensable sustainment warfighting function in order for the Army to successfully execute simultaneous and protracted operations.