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Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)
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      Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA)


      Mission: The safe elimination of chemical weapons at Pueblo and Blue Grass by Sept. 30, 2023

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Baseline Reconfiguration of 4.2-Inch Mortar Rounds Complete

Published: June 24, 2020 | Category: Environment, PCAPP News, Program Milestones, Technology
A Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant ordnance technician and baseline reconfiguration team member remove the rear assembly from a 4.2-inch mortar round. The plant has completed this campaign and the rounds will be destroyed in Static Detonation Chamber units.

A Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant ordnance technician and baseline reconfiguration team member remove the rear assembly from a 4.2-inch mortar round. The plant has completed this campaign and the rounds will be destroyed in Static Detonation Chamber units.

The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant completed baseline reconfiguration of 4.2-inch mortar rounds containing mustard agent June 23.

“This milestone signifies we have prepared all the 4.2-inch mortars for destruction in our Static Detonation Chamber units starting later this year,” said Walton Levi, site project manager, PCAPP.

Baseline reconfiguration is the name for a process performed by ordnance technicians who take boxed rounds from a ready-to-use configuration to a ready-to-process configuration. The mortar and its components are unboxed and removed from a fiberboard tube, and the energetic components are removed, along with the pressure plate and nut, cartridge container and rotating disc. The round is then placed on a pallet and overpacked, or covered, and considered baseline reconfigured – ready for demilitarization operations.

The baseline reconfiguration team reached the halfway point with 4.2-inch mortars on Aug. 29, 2019 – 16 months after starting the process. In March of this year, the team finished reconfiguring mortars containing HD mustard agent and started on the remaining HT mustard rounds.

The main plant uses an automated process to disassemble 155mm projectiles, soon to give way to 105mm projectiles, and drain and treat the chemical agent inside. Because the 4.2-inch rounds have been found to be unsuited to that process, the reconfigured mortars will be packed away to be destroyed later in three SDC units that will augment the main plant.

PCAPP Technology Articles

  • A Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant ordnance technician and baseline reconfiguration team member removes the rear assembly from a 4.2-inch mortar round in June of 2020. The plant received state approval Jan. 20 to destroy the HT 4.2-inch mortars in the main plant using Improved Cavity Access Machines.

    Full Approval Granted, Pueblo Plant Destroying First of Two Mortar Types

    Published: January 30, 2023
  • Two members of the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant’s Static Detonation Chamber crew unload 4.2-inch mortar rounds for elimination on December 7 as part of the complex’s best two months of destruction numbers for this category of munitions.

    Pueblo Static Detonation Chamber Complex Marks Best Month

    Published: January 18, 2023
  • A PCAPP crew assesses a pallet of 4.2-inch mortar rounds as part of the start of the second phase of the final campaign in the elimination of the Colorado Chemical weapons stockpile, which began on Dec. 1 using improved technology.

    Pueblo Plant Begins Second Phase of Final Destruction Campaign

    Published: December 8, 2022
  • Cavity Access Machines recently went through a significant redesign to accommodate 4.2-inch mortar round processing in the main plant, resulting in the development of Improved Cavity Access Machines, or ICAMs.

    Pueblo Plant Preparing to Destroy Mortar Rounds

    Published: October 27, 2022
  • A pallet of previously rejected 155mm projectiles awaits destruction. Approximately 200 of the 155mm projectiles were rejected by the plant’s automated robotic destruction systems. The rejected munitions have been re-introduced into the system, now upgraded with the devices.

    Safe Destruction of Previously Rejected Projectiles Moves Forward in Pueblo Plant

    Published: September 13, 2022
  • The Improved Cavity Access Machine was proposed to safely destroy 4.2-inch mortar rounds in the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant automated process. Based on existing Cavity Access Machine technology, the ICAM uses a vacuum-powered probe to remove agent.

    Improved Equipment Could Accelerate Destruction at Pueblo Plant

    Published: July 5, 2022
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