Purpose:

The U.S. Armed Forces are exploring alternative methods of handling practice bombs that contain spotting charges (e.g., the BDU-33). These spotting charges contain primers, a propellant charge and a smoke charge. Hundreds of thousands of these practice bombs have been dropped at bombing ranges throughout the U.S. Many were duds when dropped, and they still contain live propellant and smoke charges. When removing these items from a range, each and every bomb has to be manually examined to determine if it is still hazardous. If it is, the item must be rendered inert, usually by detonation of a countercharge on the item. Problems with assuring 100 percent detection and segregation of dud practice bombs mean that the costs to deal with them are high and climbing higher as environmental constraints tighten. In addition, many live items still get through the inspection process. A cost-effective, safe and environmentally acceptable method that destroys 100 percent of the propellant and smoke charges so that the bombs can be recycled is required.

Description:

UXBase™, a process under development by UXB International Inc., uses base hydrolysis as a non-thermal and environmentally safe alternative to present methods. For practice bombs, the process takes all of the units recovered from a range and immerses them in the hydrolysis fluid. The fluid attacks and penetrates the aluminum spotting charge case inside the bomb and then attacks and hydrolyzes the propellant and smoke charges. After processing, the smoke bombs are removed from the hydrolysis fluid and immersed in a neutralization tank. After neutralization, they are ready for recycling. Hydrolysis and neutralization fluids can be reused many times before requiring replenishment. A small proportion of the practice bombs use a smoke charge contained in glass; these smoke charges will be removed after the process for recycling. The project will validate this process by building and testing a full-size mobile processing plant on a flat bed trailer.

Benefits:

The major benefit will be the ability to assure that 100 percent of the practice bombs are free of hazardous ingredients and ready for recycling, following the UXBase™ process. As the process is mobile, this removes the requirement for transportation of hazardous untreated dud materials, and the process emits no hazardous air pollutants. In addition, the requirement for manual inspection and detonation of dud practice bombs is eliminated, reducing costs and manpower requirements and increasing safety in range clearance operations. (Project Completed - 2006)

Contacts:

Technical Contact:

Mr. Harley Heaton
UXB International Inc.
21641 Beaumeade Circle SW 301
Ashburn, VA 20147-6002
Telephone: (703) 724-9646
Fax: (703) 724-3528
E-mail: hlheaton@uxb.com

DoD Liaison Officer:

Mr. Scott Millhouse
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Engineering and Support Center - Huntsville
ED-SY-T
P.O. Box 1600
Huntsville, AL 35807-4301
Telephone: (256) 895-1607
Fax: (256) 895-1602
E-mail: scott.d.millhouse@hnd01.usace.army.mil