Radford Army Ammunition Plant


Radford Army Ammunition Plant is an ammunitions manufacturing complex for the U.S. military with facilities located in Pulaski and Montgomery Counties, Virginia. The primary mission of the RFAAP is to manufacture propellants and explosives in support of field artillery, air defense, tank, missile, aircraft and Navy weapons systems. As of 2011 RFAAP is operated by BAE Systems.

History

RFAAP was established April 5, 1941 as Radford Ordnance Works and New River Plant. In 1945, the works was renamed Radford Arsenal and the New River Ordnance Works was assumed as a subpost until 1950, when it became an integral part of the Radford Arsenal. In 1961 the arsenal was renamed Radford Ordnance Plant and RFAAP in 1963. The facility used an ALCO MRS-1 military diesel locomotive, road number B2072, for switching, which was retired by the 1980s and scrapped at Cycle Systems in Roanoke, Virginia around 1993.
In 1995, Alliant Techsystems, parent company ATK Armament Systems, obtained a "facilities use" contract. In 1999, RFAAP gained the load, assembly and pack mission with the closure of Joliet Army Ammunition Plant in Illinois. "Radford is capable of producing mass quantities of solvent and solventless propellants to support direct fire, indirect fire, and rocket applications." On May 12, 2011, the Army announced that BAE Systems had won the "facilities use" contract to become the plant operator.

Facilities

RFAAP is housed on with 1,038 buildings, 214 igloos and storage capacity of 657,003 square feet where the New River divides Pulaski from Montgomery County.
RFAAP is home to several tenants of similar industry, including:
In June 2015 the plant requested a renewal of its permit of an open burning ground which it has used for decades to dispose of its waste.
The ground is "located on the north bank of the New River in the Horseshoe Area, a section of the plant surrounded on three sides by the river". Rapid modernization is addressing this concern.