July 7 (UPI) — Defense Department officials said Friday that the United States has destroyed the last of its arsenal of chemical weapons, completing a decades-long process.
The final sarin nerve agent-filled M55 rocket was destroyed at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the Defense Department said.
“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 of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William A. LaPlante said in a statement.
The United States once had more than 30,000 tons of chemical warfare agents in explosively configured weapons and bulk containers. Congress mandated in 1986 that the arsenal be destroyed, and the process began in 1990.
President Joe Biden applauded today’s news and said that all nations should join the Chemical Weapons Convention to impose a global ban on the weapons.
“For more than 30 years, the United States has worked tirelessly to eliminate our chemical weapons stockpile,” Biden said. “Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile-bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons.”
Last month, a team of companies in Colorado led by Bechtel National Inc. completed the destruction of more than 780,000 mustard agent-filled projectiles at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot.
“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 demilitarization possible,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said in a statement.