Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear, all of which are considered "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs), a term that contrasts with conventional weapons.
The Newport Chemical Depot, previously known as the Wabash River Ordnance Works and the Newport Army Ammunition Plant, was a 6,990-acre (28.3 km2) bulk chemical storage and destruction facility that was operated by the United States Army. It is located near Newport, in west central Indiana, thirty-two miles north of Terre Haute. The site was used as a production site for the solid explosives trinitrotoluene and RDX, as well as for heavy water. It also served as the production site for all of the U.S. military's nerve agent VX, when it was in use. All VX nerve agent at the site was neutralized by August 8, 2008. It was the third of the Army's nine chemical depots to completely destroy its stockpile.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD), based in Umatilla, Oregon, was a U.S. Army installation in the United States that stored chemical weapons. The chemical weapons originally stored at the depot consisted of various live munitions and storage containers each holding 1 short ton GB or VX nerve agents or HD blister agent. All munitions had been safely destroyed by 2011 and base closure operations were still ongoing as of 2022.
The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility or TOCDF, is a U.S. Army facility located at Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele County, Utah that was used for dismantling chemical weapons.
The Deseret Chemical Depot was a U.S. Army chemical weapon storage area located in Utah, 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Salt Lake City. It is related to the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.
The Pueblo Chemical Depot is a chemical weapons storage site located in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The Pueblo Chemical Depot is one of the last two sites in the United States with chemical munitions and chemical material. The Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) which is under the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program is currently destroying its stockpile of 155mm and 105mm artillery shells and 4.2-inch mortars, all of which contain a form of the chemical agent mustard gas.
Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) is a U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command storage facility for conventional munitions and chemical weapons. The facility is located in east central Kentucky, southeast of the cities of Lexington and Richmond, Kentucky. The 14,494-acre (58.66 km2) site, composed mainly of open fields and wooded areas, is used for munitions storage, repair of general supplies, and the disposal of munitions. The installation is used for the storage of conventional explosive munitions as well as assembled chemical weapons. The depot primarily is involved in industrial and related activities associated with the storage and maintenance of conventional and chemical munitions.
The Pine Bluff Arsenal is a United States Army installation in Jefferson County, Arkansas, about eight miles northwest of Pine Bluff and thirty miles southeast of Little Rock.
Operation Red Hat was a United States Department of Defense movement of chemical warfare munitions from Okinawa, Japan to Johnston Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, which occurred in 1971.
The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) is a facility built to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD), near Richmond, Kentucky.
Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) was the U.S. Army's first chemical munitions disposal facility. It was located on Johnston Island, at Johnston Atoll and completed its mission and ceased operation in 2000.
Chemical Agent Identification Sets (CAIS), known by several other names, were sets of glass vials or bottles that contained small amounts of chemical agents. They were employed by all branches of the United States Armed Forces from 1928-1969 for the purpose of training in detection, handling and familiarization with chemical warfare. Most CAIS were destroyed in the 1980s but the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency still occasionally demilitarizes CAIS that are found buried.
The Weteye bomb was a U.S. chemical weapon designed for the U.S. Navy and meant to deliver the nerve agent sarin. The Weteye held 160 kg (350 lb) of liquid sarin and was officially known as the Mk 116. Stockpiles of Weteyes were transferred to Utah in the 1980s amidst controversy and protest.
The Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives is responsible for the safe and environmentally sound destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky and the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot, Colorado. In 1996, the United States Congress established the ACWA program to test and demonstrate alternative technologies to baseline incineration for the destruction of chemical weapons. The ACWA program oversaw the design and construction of the two chemical weapons destruction pilot plants – the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) in Colorado, and the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) in Kentucky. Today, PCAPP and BGCAPP are in the operations phase. PEO ACWA will oversee both plants through operations and closure.
The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) is a chemical weapons destruction facility built to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile stored at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot (PCD), in southeastern Colorado. The depot contains munitions that are part of the U.S. national chemical weapons stockpile. Before chemical weapons destruction began at PCAPP, these munitions contained 2,613 U.S. tons of mustard agent. The weapons have been stored at the 23,000-acre (93 km2) depot since the 1950s.
Throughout history, chemical weapons have been used as strategic weaponry to devastate the enemy in times of war. After the mass destruction created by WWI and WWII, chemical weapons have been considered to be inhumane by most nations, and governments and organizations have undertaken to locate and destroy existing chemical weapons. However, not all nations have been willing to cooperate with disclosing or demilitarizing their inventory of chemical weapons. Since the start of the worldwide efforts to destroy all existing chemical weapons, some nations and terrorist organizations have used and threatened the use of chemical weapons to leverage their position in conflict. A notable example includes the use of such weapons by the US government that sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. Other examples of the use of chemical weapons are Iraq’s Saddam Hussein on the Kurdish village Halabja in 1988 and their employment against civilian passengers of the Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995. The efforts made by the United States and other chemical weapon destruction agencies intend to prevent such use, but this is a difficult and ongoing effort. Aside from the difficulties of cooperation and locating chemical weapons, the methods to destroy the weapons and to do this safely are also a challenge.
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a weapon "or its precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Munitions or other delivery devices designed to deliver chemical weapons, whether filled or unfilled, are also considered weapons themselves."
The Alabama Regional Communications System (ARCS) is a radio/alert notification communications district with responsibility for providing user-based administration for operations and maintenance of the interoperable communications system that serves Calhoun County, Alabama and Talladega County, Alabama. The Motorola trunked radio system is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate on radio frequency spectrum in the 800 megahertz (MHz) public safety band.
The United States chemical weapons program began in 1917 during World War I with the creation of the U.S. Army's Gas Service Section and ended 73 years later in 1990 with the country's practical adoption of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons began in 1985 and is still ongoing. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD), at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, continues to operate.
