Chemical Weapons
Status of the Army's M687 Binary Program Gao ID: NSIAD-90-295 September 28, 1990Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO assessed an Army contractor's ability to eliminate its delivery backlog of M-20 and M-21 canister components for the M687 binary chemical projectile by October 1, 1990.
GAO found that the: (1) Army recognized that the contractor could not complete deliveries by October 1, 1990 for the fiscal year (FY) 1988 program; (2) contractor expected to complete deliveries for the 1988 program by the end of November 1990; (3) United States' agreement with the Soviet Union to halt production of chemical weapons made the FY 1989 program the last procurement program for M687 projectiles; (4) Army did not expect to finish construction of a new chemical production plant scheduled for completion in October 1989 until October 1990; and (5) Army might not be able to use the new facility due to difficulties in obtaining chemicals needed for production.