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In 1991 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was signed by the US Russia, Byelarus, Kazakhstan and
Ukraine, its aim was to reduce the total number of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles
intercontinental and submarine launched ballistic missiles and also heavy bombers.
As a result the US made a commitment to
eliminate many of its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress aircraft to stay within the limits set in the
agreement. Under the agreement the US could retain 71 B-52 bombers, each equipped to carry 20 cruise
missiles.
AMARC was given the awesome task of eliminating the very large number (approx 365) of these very large aircraft to
the timescales laid out in the treaty. By 1998, 252 B-52's had been destroyed with a further
113 still at AMARC. The last of the B-52G's are scheduled to be destroyed by the end of 2001.
Originally AMARC used a 13,500lb guillitine blade to slice through each B-52. The blade was hoisted to
a height of 80 feet using a crane and then unceremoniously dropped on each predefined cut point. This
approach was very effective in slicing through the airframe. The resulting sections of the aircraft
were arranged for easy identification to satellite (the main verification method used by the Russian
and Ukranian observers) and after 90 days the wreckage was sold to local scrap metal companies for
disposal. Some 150,000 pounds of aluminium and other metals were available for recycling
from each aircraft. See figure 1., an aerial photograph of AMARC area 26 showing B-52's in the
process of being eliminated. Notice how the sections of the destroyed aircraft are arranged for
easy identification by satellite.
AMARC have progressed from this 'brute force' elimination method to a more 'surgical'
method using power saws. The reason for this is that the B-52G's have many components that can be used to support
the operational B-52H's, the guillitine method made it very difficult to preserve the interior of the
aircraft after the operation. By using power saws, precision cuts are made and afterwards spraylat (the
same material used to preserve the other aircraft stored at AMARC) is used to seal any holes exposing
interior areas of the aircraft. Spare parts can then be retrieved at a later stage without fear of
degradation due to exposure to sun, rain and dirt.
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