Army AL&T Magazine Features CRG Automation’s Work for U.S. Military

Company joined effort to increase efficiency and safety of chemical weapon destruction

March 7, 2022 — LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — Army AL&T Magazine today published an in-depth review of the U.S. Army’s work to more efficiently and safely destroy an aging stockpile of chemical weapons. The engineers at CRG Automation, in partnership with companies including Amentum and Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, teamed to meet strong safety and efficiency guidelines established by the Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (PEO ACWA), which oversees the destruction of the nation’s chemical weapons.

The military took the unprecedented step in mid-2019 of rethinking the entire process, despite a looming 2023 demilitarization deadline. With that timeframe in mind, the government used a contracting mechanism first established in NASA’s 1950s race to space to bring in private-sector industry leaders and turned to CRG Automation to help develop the critical automation improvements needed.

“As a past member of the military, this project took on a special importance for me,” said CRG Automation President James DeSmet. “The team not only redefined a complex process but took it a step further.”

Added Dr. Candace Coyle, site project manager for the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, “This process allowed us to move quickly to keep us on track for the treaty destruction commitment of September 2023. The team did a great job of bringing this all to fruition, pandemic notwithstanding.”

Click here to read the article by Army AL&T, which is the United States Army Acquisition Support Center’s quarterly professional journal, comprising in-depth, analytically focused articles. The magazine’s mission is to instruct members of the Army AL&T community relative to AL&T processes, procedures, techniques and management philosophy and to disseminate other information pertinent to the professional development of workforce members and others engaged in AL&T activities.