Chemical weapons development

On the defensive side, service requirements were promulgated for a real-time detector for nerve agents in the field, shipboard detectors for Royal Navy vessels, prophylactics and therapy for nerve agent poisoning and a new respirator. The procurement cycle for some of these items was relatively quick, but for others, in particular the respirator, the process was one of continuous improvement reflecting advances in science and technology. However, to try to provide a succinct analysis of the first 20 post-war years of chemical weapon development in Britain is difficult mainly because many topics cannot be reported due to the non-disclosure of sensitive documents by the British government. 

Since many different types of equipment are suitable for chemical agent production, plant equipment per se does not provide a reliable means of distinguishing between legitimate and illicit activities. Nevertheless, some potential signatures of chemical weapon development and production exist, and a set of multiple indicators taken from many sources may be highly suggestive of a production capability. 

The physical, chemical and hazardous properties of a number of highly toxic or flammable substances that were in the past or being currently used in the warfare have been discussed in detail in several chapters in this book. Some of these compounds are further discussed under specific chapters, such as. Sulfur Mustards, Nerve Gases, Dioxin and Related Compounds and Napalm. These and many other compounds are in most cases grouped together in this book based on their chemical structures along with their toxic or flammable properties. Presented below is a brief discussion on various types of chemicals weapons developed for military applications. Explosive substances have been omitted from this section. They are discussed separately in this book under topics such as Explosive Characteristics of Chemical Substances, Nitro Explosives, Oxidizers and Organic Peroxides and also under specific title compounds in various chapters. 

For another example, ranges may have tested an occasional chemical shell or bomb. Lewisite contamination has been found at the World War II Pontiac Bombing Range in South Carolina (now a residential subdivision). Chemical weapons developed at AUES were tested at Langley Field in Virginia, Camp Simms in Washington, DC, and Fort Foote in Maryland. 

It is possible that many of these could be found at a World War I chemical weapons sites even if only a few were actually used on the European battlefields. The war ended just as our chemical weapons development reached its zenith. 

Suspected chemical weapons are usually x-rayed to determine whether a liquid line is present. Because several solid chemical agents (i.e., ricin and Adamsite) remain in the current and past inventories, and others were experimented with in great numbers during chemical weapon development, the x-ray technique is over-relied upon for determining chemical rounds. It also will not find a compressed gas like arsine. 

Case Study A State s Effort to Get the Corps of Engineers to Clean Up a Chemical Weapons Development Manufacturing and Test Site... 

With the World War I catastrophe etched in the minds of Red Army officers, the Soviet Union embarked on an aggressive chemical weapons development program, fully integrating CW doctrine within its armed forces. 

It is difficult to say to what extent Syria relies on foreign expertise for chemical weapons development. Syria has received technical advice from the former Soviet Union and developed its more advanced chemical warheads with assistance also from North Korea and Western European nations. Reportedly, Syria is also able to produce CW agents indigenously. According to Major General Moshe Ya alon, former intelligence chief of the Israeli Defense Forces, Syria itself manufactures Scud B s. Scud C s, and chemical warheads of various types. ... 

Agents Used Against the Kurds by Iraq Iranian Chemical Weapons Development Lessons fronn the Gulf War... 

The Second Review Conference reiterated the call of the First Review Conference upon the Council to reach agreement on the declaration criteria for former chemical weapons development facilities, required to be declared under the provisions of Article III, sub-paragraph 1(d), with a view towards promoting confidence among States Parties. 

Stresses the importance to the Convention that all possessors of chemical weapons, chemical weapons production facilities or chemical weapons development facilities, including previ-... 

Compared to the amount of organization and effort involved in defensive training, that devoted to offensive chemical warfare was relatively limited. Policy in this field was frequently reviewed by the War Department General Staff. Standard procedure was that chemical weapons developed for the U.S. Army should be produced "with a view to employment by one or more of the combatant branches (that is, by Infantry, Field Artillery, Air Corps, etc.). For such materiel, the CWS was in theory a producer and supplier only. But the Chemical Warfare Service was never content merely to purvey. It took the view that the stocks of smoke, incendiary, and gas munitions were specialties, the merits of which might be overlooked if not adequately utilized. Hence an important function of CWS officers detailed to the faculties of special service schools and the Command and General Staff School was to further the introduction of chemical warfare situations into instructional problems and at the same time assist in the development of doctrine covering the employment of chemical munitions by the several combat arms. The Chief, CWS, selected instructors for assignment to those schools with the utmost care. 

There are major problems also in China, where Japanese forces abandoned chemical munitions in 1945. In the United States, the U.S. Army has surveyed its substantial non-stockpile chemical munitions problem.[l] One aspect of it came to light in 1993, when abandoned chemical munitions and precursor chemicals were found buried in Spring Valley, Washington, D.C., a district of expensive homes. During World War I it was a chemical weapons development site. 

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