Ammunition surveillance

Design Criteria for Mobile Ammunition Surveillance Shop Including Personnel Protection Consideration... 

Figure 1. Ammunition surveillance being performed under field condition at an Ammunition Supply Point (ASP)...

Ammunition Peculiar Equipment, commonly referred to as APE, is specialized equipment for use in the maintenance, modification, renovation, surveillance and demilitarization of ammunition items. This equipment is used at world wide military installations with ammunition missions that require any of the above mentioned activities. 

Fixed and Semi-Fixed Ammunition Testing and Surveillance. The following description is taken from the Safety and Storage Manual for Explosives and Ammunition ... 

Maintenance and Surveillance. Similar ro the regulations outlined under "Trench Mottar Ammunition ... 

Fixed and semi-fixed ammunition testing and surveillance 6 F42—F43... 

Complete Round Tests. These tests may be considered as a final check on the proper assembly of the round (such as fixed-, or semi-fixed ammunition) and detn of its ability to function satisfactorily as a unit under service conditions. Complete rounds may be tested while the ammunition is being developed, for acceptance or surveillance. Final acceptance for issue to service, or storage for future issue, is based upon the results of this test (Ref 5)... 

Refs 1)0.E.Burton, "A Study of the Action of Explosives on Metals Used in Ammunition , PATR 65 (May 1931) 2)D.W.Biklen, "Reaction of Tetryl with Phenolic Plastic Materials , PATR 1264 (March 1943) 3)W. H.Rinkenbach, "The Reactivity of Waxes with TNT and Amatol , PATR 1323 (Aug 1943) 4)L.H.Eriksen, "Action of Explosives on Metals Used in Ammunition , PATR No s 1325 (Aug 1943), 1388 (Feb 1944), 1451 (Oct 1944) 1493 (Jan 1945) 5)L.Gilman, "Effects Produced upon Stability of Explosives by Contact with Plastics , PATR 1376 (Jan 1944) 6)L.H.Eriksen, "Surveillance of PETN and Pentolite Stored in Contact with Steel Strips , PATR 1598... 

To resolve these problems, the DARCOM Ammunition Center was tasked to design a Mobile Surveillance Inspection Shop that would provide a suitable work location and contain all of the necessary tools and equipment to accommodate the variety of inspections when conducted at the storage site. This mobile shop was to be transportable and selfsustaining. It would be designed to insure ease of operation, service and storage of the unit, as well as to provide an efficient work area with a maximum consideration for... 

Army experiences as well as technological advances have resulted in the accumulation of substantial data, which has been used to develop the functional criteria, that must be recognized in design and development of equipment and associated facilities used for ammunition operations. Primary guidelines are found in the Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command Safety Manual (DARCOMR 385-100), Ammunition and Explosive Standards (TM 9-1300-206) and Occupational Safety and Health Act Standards, as well as other laws, rules and regulations. All of these criteria have been recognized and considered in the development of the Mobile Surveillance Inspection Shop. 

On each of the four sides of the Shop, a holder was provided so that the appropriate fire hazard symbol, reflecting the most hazardous material in the Shop, could be posted. Fire symobls for each of the classes of ammunition that would be encountered in performing field surveillance operations are provided and stored in the equipment module. 

Seven Chemical Warfare Service laboratory companies saw service overseas between 1941 and 1945. The essential mission of the laboratory company in the field was to analyze and evaluate enemy chemical materiel and to maintain technical surveillance over CWS supplies. These functions made it a major source of technical intelligence, both as to enemy capabilities for chemical warfare and the storage life of CWS ammunition and protective items. At first conceived of as a more or less mobile entity capable of following an army in the field, it was in practice treated as a semifixed installation of a theater communications zone, a status better suited to its more than ten tons of laboratory equipment. 

Surveillance tests. Surveillance tests are made on specific lots of ammunition taken from storage to determine if changes are needed in components to provide satisfactory operation as well as to determine the degree of deterioration of the original lot. Such tests should include adequate sampling of the lot to assure true representation and isolation of troublesome components, and adequate tests to assure satisfactory performance of renovated ammunition. Tests of this type will salvage lots of satisfactory ammunition whenever possible. 

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