Industrial Demilitarization of Conventional Ammunition (Research Note 37)

In many countries, excess stockpiles of obsolete or unserviceable munitions have reached a level requiring demilitarization on an industrial scale, often in a race against time, because the ammunition tends to become unsafe with age.

Since states rarely have the capacity to demilitarize the surplus ammunition stockpiles of their collective security forces, they often turn to private demilitarization contractors.

Industrial Demilitarization of Conventional Ammunition, a Research Note by the Small Arms Survey, provides a snapshot of the ammunition demilitarization industry in Europe and the United States. These regions account for the majority of industrial ammunition demilitarization activity worldwide.

The Research Note summarizes the findings of a chapter on this topic, ‘Burning the Bullet: Industrial Demilitarization of Ammunition,’ in Small Arms Survey 2013: Everyday Dangers.

It provides an overview of current technologies and practices to help inform effective policies to manage and reduce ammunition stockpiles. In doing so it supports the Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) initiative, which encourages affected governments to develop a pro-active, coordinated  approach to secure and destroy excess munitions. 

Aslo available in BCMS and BULGARIAN

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