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Alliant Techsystems [ATK] last week won a $130 million, five- year contract to supply trinitrotoluene, commonly known as TNT, marking its start as the first, and sole, domestic source of the explosive material used in filling bombs in 17 years.
TNT production will take place at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia, which is operated by ATK's Ammunition and Powder business unit. The facility will be reclaiming TNT from older bombs and upgrade the material to meet current military standards for use in current bomb production.
To meet its requirements for TNT, the United States has acquired the material from companies in Poland and Canada over the years. Domestic TNT production ceased during the 1980s, once the U.S. had built out to its...