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The US government has confirmed the destruction of the country’s final chemical munition in the nation’s obsolete stockpile of chemical weapons, marking a major milestone in the global disarmament push.
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The accomplishment meets the United States’ commitment to complete its destruction operations by 30 September 2023. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international arms control treaty the US ratified in 1997.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Dr William LaPlante said, “We have a national security imperative and moral obligation to work toward eliminating the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction.”
The final sarin nerve agent-filled M55 rocket was destroyed 7 July at the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky.
“This is the first time an international body has verified destruction of an entire category of declared weapons of mass destruction — reinforcing the United States’ commitment to creating a world free of chemical weapons,” Under Secretary LaPlante added.
Congress mandated in 1986 the destruction of the US chemical weapons stockpile — at one time, comprised more than 30,000 tonnes of chemical warfare agents in explosively configured weapons and bulk containers — which began in 1990 on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific.
Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth welcomed this achievement saying, “This is a momentous day for the US chemical demilitarisation program. After years of design, construction, testing and operations, these obsolete weapons have been safely eliminated. The Army is proud to have played a key role in making this demilitarisation possible.”
While those stockpiles were under destruction, additional legislation required the Defense Department to assess and demonstrate alternative technologies to destroy chemical weapons by means other than incineration.
Successful implementation of alternative technologies resulted in the safe destruction of the remaining chemical weapons stored at the US Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.
The final munition was destroyed 7 July in Kentucky by a joint-venture team led by Bechtel National Inc and Parsons Corporation, using neutralisation and explosive destruction technologies to eliminate more than 100,000 mustard agent and nerve agent-filled projectiles and nerve agent-filled rockets. Destruction operations at the Blue Grass Army Depot began in June 2019, with more than 523 US tonnes of chemical agents safely destroyed.
