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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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  • BLUE GRASS
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      Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP)

      BGCAPP is safely destroying the chemical weapons stockpile currently in storage at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Kentucky.

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  • PUEBLO
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      Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP)

      PCAPP is safely destroying the chemical weapons stockpile currently in storage at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.

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News

Members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council view a Blue Grass plant update from a conference room at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, March 21.

U.S. Chemical Demilitarization Transparency Event Held for International Organization

By Jayson Peters | BGCAPP News, PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 31 March, 2022 | 0

Members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Executive Council attended a Chemical Demilitarization Transparency Event focused on destruction progress at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant and hosted online by the U.S. March 21-22.

  • An ordnance technician uses a lift assist device to move a 155mm projectile containing mustard agent in the Enhanced Reconfiguration Building at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in August 2020.
  • Operators lift the last palletized 155mm projectile containing VX nerve agent to place it in a tray to begin the destruction process at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in May 2021.

Remaining U.S. Chemical Weapons Stockpile 75 percent Destroyed

By Jayson Peters | PEO ACWA Program News, Program Milestones | Comments are Closed | 18 January, 2022 | 0

Destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile located in two states has reached the 75% completion mark, with a combined total of more than 2,352 U.S. tons of chemical agent destroyed as of Jan. 14, 2022.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control Dr. Charles J. Ball (left) congratulates Deputy Program Executive Officer, Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Nicholas Stamatakis III after his ceremonial oath as a member of the Senior Executive Service. Barbara Stamatakis (center) holds a family bible used for the oath.

Chemical Demilitarization Program Advances Deputy to Senior Executive Service

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 28 August, 2019 | 0

The deputy program executive officer for the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons was recognized for his appointment into the Senior Executive Service at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, Aug. 26, 2019.

Col. Lewis McBride is shown holding a tear gas gun, 1924. Behind him is the 4.2-inch chemical mortar he refined at his machine shop, Edgewood Arsenal, 1924. (Photo contributed by the Army Chemical Review).

Army Colonel Remembered for Refining the 4.2-inch Mortar

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 20 June, 2019 | 0

Thousands of chemical mortar rounds in Colorado are on the brink of destruction, nearly a century after an Army colonel revolutionized the way they would be used to defend troops on the battlefield.

  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Threat Reduction and Arms Control, Dr. Charles J. Ball and Program Executive Officer Michael S. Abaie pose for a photo during the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives Assumption of Charter Ceremony Nov. 28 at the Chemical Demilitarization Training Facility, Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
  • Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) Jeffrey S. White (right) meets Andre Kirnes, director of Program Planning and Analysis, Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives in the receiving line with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Threat Reduction and Arms Control, Dr. Charles J. Ball (center) and Program Executive Officer Michael S. Abaie (left). Abaie assumed the program charter from Ball during an event at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland Nov. 28. The mission of PEO ACWA is destruction of the remaining U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, a function of the Defense Department. The program is staffed by Department of the Army civilians and is administratively attached to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center.

Program Executive Officer Assumes Charter for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program

By Hector Colon | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 29 November, 2018 | 0

Chemical weapons free by 2023, the vision and goal of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, can be achieved if its destruction plants can maintain steady state operations, said the programs’ leader.

  • ACWA Program Executive Officer Suzanne Milchling speaks with Nathan Whittington, Emergency Management Program Specialist, Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, at a June 27, 2018 public meeting about chemical weapons destruction in Pueblo, Colorado.
  • Craig Campbell, principal director, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs, Threat Reduction and Arms Control, speaks to Suzanne Milchling, program executive officer, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, during a tour of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant March 29, 2018.

Steady State Operations Key to Achieving Program Vision

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 28 August, 2018 | 0

Chemical weapons free by 2023, the vision and goal of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, can be achieved if its destruction plants can maintain steady state operations, said the programs’ leader.

BGCAPP Infographic: From Storage to Destruction

Infographic: Mission to Eliminate 523 Tons of Chemical Agent

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 11 June, 2018 | 0

Near Richmond, Kentucky, hundreds of trained technicians are testing a pilot plant designed and built to methodically disassemble and destroy a portion of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile which contains the blister agent mustard and nerve agents, GB and VX. This stockpile consists of thousands of projectiles and rockets and has been safely stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot since the 1940s.

  • A drilling device is attached to an inert munition.
  • A drilling device rests on top of an inert munition inside a glovebox.

Partner Organization Supports Nerve Agent Sampling in Kentucky

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 10 May, 2018 | 0

U.S. Army technicians are training and preparing to collect nerve agent samples from the Blue Grass Army Depot chemical weapons stockpile in May to help prepare the Blue Grass plant for future operations.

Conrad F. Whyne (left) poses for a photo with his father, Aaron I. Whyne, 96, of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, after a ceremony marking the younger Whyne's retirement. Both men are Army Veterans. Aaron served in WWII, and Conrad's career spanned 10 years in uniform and 29 years as an Army Civilian.

Leader of Chemical Weapons Destruction Program Retires

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 26 April, 2017 | 0

The Program Executive Officer who leads the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program marked his retirement during a ceremony April 26 on the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

  • Bill Adams, Research and Development team leader, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate, demonstrates how the door to the new Explosive Destruction System is sealed during a site tour by members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization.
  • Greg Mohrman, site project manager, Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, talks with Ronald Bishop, a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization during an overview of the improved Explosive Destruction System.
  • Bill Adams (right), Research and Development team leader, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate, explains chemical munitions using models during a session for members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization.

Experts Meet, Review Program Progress

By John Cummins | PEO ACWA Program News | Comments are Closed | 30 November, 2016 | 0

More than 20 experts from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization met with the leadership of the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives to review progress and receive technical updates Nov. 16-18 in Aberdeen, Maryland.

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