US Army Awards Contract For Cryofracture Munitions Destruction System

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Army to upgrade a portable GA-EMS prototype cryofracture system and perform additional design and procurement to interface the system with a rotary kiln incinerator. 

Once integration and testing are completed, the prototype cryofracture system will be scheduled for delivery to Crane Army Ammunition Activity (CAAA) in Crane, Indiana, for future installation and prove-out with live material.

“We have extensive experience and proven capabilities in the effective, thorough destruction of well over 500,000 small to medium size munitions using our cryofracture systems at installations such as the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona and the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “We are extremely pleased to be awarded this contract to continue the cryofracture project at the Army’s Crane facility. The upgrades to the system will significantly increase their ability and capacity to safely and cost-efficiently destroy munition stockpiles on-site.”

GA-EMS’ cryofracture systems offer an efficient and safe munition size reduction process to utilize incineration systems to avoid the use of hazardous open pit munitions destruction. The cryofracture process utilizes liquid nitrogen to cool munition bodies to below the embrittlement temperature. Cooled bodies are then fractured in a hydraulic press, which incapacitates the shaped charge, exposes the energetics, and renders them safe for thermal destruction without concern for high-order detonation inside the incineration system. This allows a wide variety of munitions to be processed, and increases thermal incinerator throughput to help installations demilitarize more munitions using existing incinerator equipment.

GA-EMS is designing, procuring and integrating equipment to upgrade the Army’s portable prototype cryofracture system. Final testing will be conducted using inert munitions with the prototype before the contract’s scheduled completion at the end of 2019.