Mechanics at Anniston Army Depot line up an M1 Abrams turret with its hull.
Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) is a major United States Army facility fulfilling various depot operations. Primary missions are the repair of tracked vehicles overhaul of Small Arms Weapon Systems and the storage of chemical weapons (Anniston Chemical Activity). The depot is located in Bynum, Alabama.
The depot employs over 5,000 people and covers 25 square miles (65 km2) of land. Tanks and other equipment are repaired and tested there, but historically Anniston's main role has been as a major munitions storage site, since WWII. Anniston is one of seven depots in the United States where chemical weapons are stored (7.2% of nation's chemical weapons stockpile).[1] The stockpile included rockets, bombs, projectiles, and land mines armed with Sarin, VX nerve agent, or mustard gas. The last chemical munitions were destroyed in September 2011.[2]
ANAD is the only depot capable of performing maintenance on heavy-tracked combat vehicles and their components and houses a state of the art 250,000 square foot Small Arms Overhaul facility that opened in January 2012 replacing a previous facility that was outdated. The depot is designated as the Center of Technical Excellence for the M1 Abrams Tank and is the designated candidate depot for the repair of the M60 Patton tank, AVLB, M728, M88 Recovery Vehicle and M551 combat vehicles.[3] During the Iraq War, over 1,000 M1 tanks, howitzers and other armored vehicles were stored awaiting re-engineering.[4]
The depot also houses and operates a facility for the repair, restoration, and/or upgrade of infantry weapons such as the Beretta M9 pistol, M16 rifle, and M2 machine gun. Any firearm deemed unusable or obsolete is destroyed on the premises, the materials are reduced to unusable pieces and then sold for scrap to be melted down.
ANAD is under command of the US Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM LCMC), although other operators on the facility include the Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office, Department of Army Center of Military History, Health Services Command, and Soldier and Chemical Biological Command ODCMP Civilian Marksmanship Program.
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Coordinates: 33°39′08″N 85°57′44″W / 33.65222°N 85.96222°W
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The original article can be found at Anniston Army Depot and the edit history here.