EXPAL USA reaches over 2,900 tons of demilitarised ammunitions since 2016 following the agreement signed with the US Army.
The company announced this milestone during the 22nd Annual Global Demilitarisation Symposium and Exhibition, where it introduced its global demilitarisation solutions to support countries to demilitarise, recycle or reuse the stockpile of excess and obsolete munitions, following the highest safety and environmental standards.
During the four-day symposium hosted by the US Department of Defense in Seattle, EXPAL presented three projects with ad-hoc technological solutions carried out in the last three years: ammunition industrial demilitrisation in the US, mobility plant for unstable propellants, and dumped munition disposal. Three tailored solutions for three challenges.
Industrialised demilitarisation solution for the US Department of Defense
Steve Dart, CEO of EXPAL USA, highlighted the challenges achieved to successfully develop the program, where complying with the most demanding safety and environmental standards is a key factor.
The company has made a significant investment in the last five years to implement state-of-the-art technologies at its facilities located in Texarkana (Texas) including a gas treatment centre and remote-control operations.
Over 25% of the professionals working in EXPAL USA are US military veterans that contribute day-by-day with their expertise to the success of this program.
Mobility plant for unstable propellants transformation
The second conference presented by José Galisteo, Manufacturing Project Manager in EXPAL, highlighted EXPAL’s on-site demilitarisation solutions as a safe alternative when exposing the propellants to transportation can be hazardous.
The company explained in the conference how the engineering team designed a fully mobile facility to demilitarise different types of propellants. A complete gas treatment system was designed specifically to process propellant combustion gases. Over 2,000 tons of unstable propellant charges were disposed of during the project.
Underwater demilitarisation solutions
Juan Rosillo, Program Manager at EXPAL, presented the third conference to the experts who attended this symposium, to explain the project developed to locate, identify, extract and demilitarise sea dumped ammunition.
To develop this challenging work, EXPAL carried out a topographic study with bathymetric and imaging radar to locate the deposits under the surface. The company designed and built a mobile demilitarisation plant in only four months with protected areas for the demilitarisation operations.
Over 8,000 items of different parts of ammunitions were demilitarised in 11 months.
Leader in demilitarisation solutions
EXPAL develops demilitarisation operations to many ministries of defense with Nato standards and for the civil sector. The company has played a decisive role developing projects under the Ottawa Treaty of 1997 on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines and the 2008 Dublin Treaty on the prohibition of cluster bombs.
In addition to its facilities in Spain, Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, and the United States, EXPAL also develops on-site demilitarisation projects, which include the detection of unexploded munitions and the subsequent soil recovery.
In its more than 40 years of experience, EXPAL has demilitarised more than 1,000 references and designed 40 demilitarisation lines.
About EXPAL Systems
EXPAL Systems is a global defence and security company. We offer high-end technology products, services, and solutions to meet the current and future needs of air, land and sea armed forces. We are a trusted ally in over 60 countries adding safety, precision and advanced systems to any mission. EXPAL manages the entire lifecycle of ammunition, from R&D and manufacturing to maintenance and integration services, up to our leading demilitarisation solutions.