Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP) manufactures Research Department Explosive (
RDX
RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...
) and High Melting Explosive (
HMX) for ammunition production and development. It is government-owned and contractor-operated (GOCO) facility that is part of the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
Joint Munitions Command
The Joint Munitions Command (JMC) is the latest in a series of commands since World War II that have managed the ammunition plants of the United States. Since 1973, those commands have been headquartered on Rock Island Arsenal.
Brigadier Genera ...
.
History
The Holston Army Ammunition Plant, also known as the Holston Ordnance Works, was constructed by
Tennessee Eastman
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
in
Kingsport, Tennessee
Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...
to manufacture explosives during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
BAE Systems' division Ordnance Systems, Inc. currently operates the plant under a 25-year facilities use contract. On May 12, 2011, the Army announced that BAE Systems had won the contract to operate
Radford Army Ammunition Plant
Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP) is an ammunition manufacturing complex for the U.S. military with facilities located in Pulaski County, Virginia, Pulaski and Montgomery County, Virginia, Montgomery Counties, Virginia. The primary mission of t ...
in nearby
Radford, VA as well.
Capabilities
Capabilities of the plant include: production and development of insensitive munitions explosives; synthesis and manufacture of high explosives; recrystallization and purification from organic solvents; melt-cast, cast-cured, pressed and extruded explosives formulation; explosives performance testing; full-spectrum explosives research and development capability; and custom and fine chemical manufacture for the defense industry.
''Information Provided by the Joint Munitions Command''
Current operations
The current plant is on two sites: Plant A is in Kingsport, and Plant B is about away in a less developed part of
Hawkins County. The two plants are connected by rail. Plant A has . Plant B has . The site as a whole includes 465 buildings.
[
]
History
Holston Ordnance Works
OWwas established in July 1942 and stopped production in 1945. It was reactivated in 1949 during the Cold War and continues today. The installation was renamed Holston Army Ammunition Plant
SAAP or HAAPin the early 1960s. Holston Defense Corporation operated the facility from 1949 through 1999 under a series of cost reimbursement contracts with the U. S. Army.
[
The plant was constructed 1942–1944 for use by the government contractor, ]Tennessee Eastman
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
Corporation, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
. During World War II, it manufactured Composition B
Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also use ...
, a very powerful explosive mixture of RDX
RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...
and TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
. The facility was placed in standby status after World War II, producing only fertilizer, until it was reactivated in 1949 under the Holston Defense Corporation, a new subsidiary of Eastman Kodak.[
During the Korean War, the plant continued to manufacture Composition B as well as rework its stockpiled Composition B. New production lines were built during 1951–1954 in order to produce for the war. However, after the Korean War it was reduced to a one-line operation. It did not resume large-scale production until the mid-1960s when it was again modernized to produce large amounts of Composition B for the ]Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.[
After 1973, production was again reduced to a much smaller amount, but the plant also began producing "special-order" explosives and propellants for the Armed Services, including the ]Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
's Trident missile
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermon ...
program. It also handles and stores material for the national defense stockpile.[
As of 1988, the plant produced all of the RDX/ HMX consumed in the United States, and 90 percent of that used by all of the nations friendly to the USA.][
]
Facilities
HSAAP is housed on with 325 buildings, 130 igloos and storage capacity of
.''Information Provided by the Joint Munitions Command''
References
External links
Joint Munitions Command website
*''Information compiled fro
'
*Historic American Engineering Record
Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
(HAER) documentation, filed under Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN:
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