Explosives Safety in the NATO Environment
Abstract
This presentation consists of a summary of the current situation regarding weapons safety operations in United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It will address some differences in national (U.S.) versus NATO criteria, potential impacts of recent nationalistic movements, problems with enforcement of U.S.-only rules, and proposals on how to redress the current difficulties. The current situation regarding U.S. explosives and munitions in Europe is the result of the U.S.-NATO response to the massive Soviet-Warsaw Pact military build-up of the early 1980s. This period saw a growth of collocated operating bases (COBS), expansion of the prepositioning of munitions in support of the concept of forward deployment, and an exacerbation of the problem of already limited real estate to accommodate expanded base facilities, enlarged missions, and greater quantities of munitions required in suppwt of higher sortie rates tasked and able to be supported. Introduction of improved hardened aircraft shelters (HASs) and other standard NATO Facilities contributed to the complexity of explosives site planning in that no mutually agreed upon criteria existed to determine acceptable explosives quantity-distance (Q-D) separation criteria between these facilities and associated explosives operations, or between them and non-associated exposures. The introduction of air base operability considerations highlighted the situation which was evolving, in that it soon became evident that past siting practices had created numerous "two-for-one" targeting opportunities and allowed our own explosives to hazard other of our own operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA520679
Entities
People
- Thomas J. Powell
Organizations
- United States Air Force