WHITE HALL, Ark. - Motors were removed from nine M-55
rockets at the Pine Bluff Arsenal on Friday and will be sent to New Jersey
for testing as part of an investigation into fires at the arsenal and a depot
in Oregon, the military said.
The motors were successfully separated from the rockets in
preparation for shipment to the Armament Engineering and Test Center at the
Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J., the Army said in a news release.
The tests are being done to help determine if the rockets
are too unstable to be cut apart from their warheads in the process of destroying
them. The warheads carry the nerve agent GB, also known as Sarin, or VX.
A final investigative report is expected this month.
In the spring, the fires temporarily halted incineration of
the military's chemical weapons at the arsenal and Umatilla Chemical Depot
in Oregon.
Preliminary findings from tests on materials from the Oregon
depot showed that nitroglycerin that migrated out of propellant in the military
weapons may have caused the fires as the munitions were being destroyed.
The Army began incineration of its chemical weapons stockpile,
including nerve agents and mustard gas, at the Pine Bluff Arsenal on March
29. Rockets ignited during cutting operations at the site on May 11 and May
22 and three rockets ignited at Umatilla in April.
The Army said that there was never any danger to workers or
nearby communities and that none of the chemical agents were released into
the environment.
