RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST AND EVALUATION
AUTONOMOUS GLOW-UP
Autonomous mobile robots line up in their charging stations in the Munitions Demilitarization Building at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. These robots transfer empty and filled M55 rocket warhead canisters to and from different steps of the warhead destruction process.
Over the course of a few months, the team evaluated four technologies to improve the process, both in speed and accuracy. Among them was handheld leak-detec- tion technology used in petrochemical plants, as well as iridium used in medi- cal industries.
A process was devised to perform an X-ray scan of each rocket and focus on the areas where there is most likely to be leakage. CRG Automation’s engineers also crafted the ability to tilt each rocket up to 10 degrees for better clarity of the image.
Solving the challenges by designing and developing the new containerization system, vertical rocket cutting system, and the X-ray scan took approximately 18 months. With multiple actions required to process the rockets and incorporating two identical process lines, the system spans about nine rooms of the Muni- tions Demilitarization Building at the pilot plant. Multiple tight deadlines proved challenging, particularly given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its complications.
“Tis process allowed us to move quickly to keep us on track for the treaty destruc- tion commitment of September 2023,”
said Dr. Candace Coyle, site project manager for the pilot plant. “Te team did a great job of bringing this all to frui- tion, pandemic notwithstanding.”
CONCLUSION In July 2021, the first M55 rocket contain- ing VX nerve agent was destroyed using the new system. Te team is using this chemical weapons destruction campaign to destroy just under 18,000 VX rockets as an optimization period before starting the final campaign. Ten, the team will destroy more than 50,000 rockets contain- ing GB nerve agent—the largest portion of the Blue Grass stockpile—expected to begin in spring 2022.
“Tere would normally be a longer testing period known as systemization, before we start an agent campaign, but due to the short timeline and success in factory and site acceptance testing, we are able to safely use the VX rocket destruction campaign to optimize the equipment for the upcom- ing GB agent campaign,” Coyle said.
PEO ACWA and its contractor teams worked together to meet the challenges discovered in the rocket-destruction process, and the abilities of addi- tional partnering companies using the
other-transaction authority process allowed for quick design, fabrication and testing in a short period of time. Once the chemical weapons in Kentucky and Colorado are destroyed, destruction of the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons will be complete.
For more information, go to the PEO ACWA website:
https://www.peoacwa.army.mil/.
TIMOTHY K. GARRETT is director of field operations for PEO ACWA. He is a licensed professional
engineer and holds
an M.S. in environmental engineering and a B.S. in chemical engineering, both from the University of Alabama. A member of the Army Acquisition Corps, he has 35 years of expertise in chemical and environmental engineering related to chemical demilitarization.
KATHERINE B. DEWEESE is the public affairs officer for PEO ACWA. She holds a B.S. in advertising from the University of Maryland and is a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Defense Information School. She has more than 30 years of experience in Army public affairs, primarily with chemi- cal defense programs and demilitarization.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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