NBC Weapons: Leaky Nerve Gas Rockets Gone at Last

Archives

: NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS

March 12, 2007: The United States has completed the destruction of the last of its 478,000 M55 115mm nerve gas rockets. These 78 inch long, 57 pound, weapons, each carried ten pounds of VX or GB liquefied nerve gas. These rockets were manufactured from the late 1950s, to the early 1960s, and were soon considered obsolete (because of short range and poor construction). It was believed that the propellant would become increasingly liable to spontaneously ignite, some 27 years after they were manufactured. Another problem was that the warheads leaked, and required constant monitoring. The Anniston Army Depot began destroying the last 35,000 M55 rockets last July, and destroyed all of them without incident. The nerve gas was incinerated.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close