The objective of this Statement of Need (SON) was to develop new, innovative and environmentally friendly approaches for demilitarization of a variety of excess, obsolete, or unserviceable munitions that did not have an identified demilitarization capability or that relied on open burn and open detonation disposal methods.

The goal was to develop cost effective and environmentally sustainable processing techniques that address all components of a munitions item for the purpose of eliminating military usefulness while minimizing processing waste and reducing environmental impact. Production of energy or other value added products that improves cost effectiveness or results in other significant advantages could provide a secondary benefit.

Proposals were specifically requested for:

• whole item solution (disassembly and disposal) for mixed munition types (omnivorous treatment),
• disposition of bulk insensitive melt pour explosives from munitions,
• facilitated removal and disposal of cast cured explosives,
• demilitarization of pyrotechnic and illumination rounds, countermeasure flares, riot control agents, smoke producing munitions and munitions containing hexachloroethane (HC) as the primary fill (as well as bulk HC).

Proposals that offered modest extension of existing and fielded technologies were not appropriate for this SON. Recycling and reuse of energetic components of munitions for military purposes was outside the scope of this SON.

Proposals were required to include a go/no go task for an initial assessment of the human health and environmental impacts of proposed ingredients, formulations, and byproducts. In addition, proposals should have included a task to establish a baseline lifecycle framework and identify the elements of a lifecycle inventory that were already known, those that would be investigated during the course of the project, and those that were beyond the scope of the proposed work.

Funded projects will appear below as project overviews are posted to the website.