RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST AND EVALUATION


UPGRADE TO DESTRUCTION


PEO ACWA updates rocket handling systems to improve performance while destroying its deadliest chemical weapons.


by Timothy K. Garrett and Katherine B. DeWeese


T


he Program Executive Office for Assembled Chem- ical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA) is charged with destroying the United States’ remaining chem- ical weapons stockpile, which is stored at U.S. Army


installations in Colorado and Kentucky. A portion of the stock- pile stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky consists of M55 rockets containing either VX or GB nerve agent, weap- ons that were slated to go through a designed, constructed and tested destruction process. But after recognizing numerous operational and maintenance challenges ahead, PEO ACWA pivoted to an other-transaction authority process to develop a new rocket processing system for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.


Te existing system included a number of moving components, sensors and waste streams, causing maintenance concerns to become top of mind. Maintenance workers must wear the most stringent of personal protective equipment, which includes respi- rators and tethered air hoses.


Te reactors used in the destruction process are a three-story climb, and with a two-hour maximum period in the suit, the challenges of performing the anticipated frequent maintenance in a complex protective apparatus resulted in an upgrade of the original system to reduce those requirements.


https://asc.ar my.mil


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