An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot, bomb dump, ammunition supply point (ASP) or ammo dump, is a military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 storage facility for live ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

 and explosives.
The storage of live ammunition and explosives is inherently hazardous. There is the potential for accidents in unloading, packing and transfer; the threat of theft, misuse or sabotage; and, if neglected, the near-certainty that poorly stored explosives will catch fire and/or degrade and become shock-sensitive

Detonation

Detonation involves a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations are observed in both conventional solid and liquid explosives, as well as in reactive gases...

 over time.

Despite intensive preventive measures, ammunition depots around the world suffer from non-combat fires and explosions - rarely, but mostly with devastating consequences. Usually, an ammunition depot experiencing even minor explosions in one of its sites/buildings, is immediately evacuated

Emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...

 together with surrounding civilian areas. Thus, all of the stored ammunition is left to detonate itself completely for days or weeks, with very limted attempts at firefighting from a safe distance. If the ammunitions are artillery shells and other heavy types, the whole depot site affected is typically levelled.

Typical elements

The typical ammo dump will have several of the following elements:

• A buffer zone or cleared area of at least several hundred feet (sometimes as much as 1–2 km or 1 mile) surrounding the facility, in the event of an explosion
• Perimeter security, such as a fence
  Perimeter fence
  A perimeter fence is a structure that circles the perimeter of an area to prevent access. These fences are frequently made out of single vertical metal bars connected at the top and bottom with a horizontal bar. They often have spikes on the top to prevent climbing. Residential perimeter fences are...
  
  , to avoid casual access by unauthorized persons
• Guards equipped and in numbers relative to the potential threat from enemy forces
• Bunkers (sometimes referred to as igloos) (Magazines
  Magazine (artillery)
  Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
  
  ) where ammunition is stored under lock and key
• Blast barriers (Traverses), such as an earth berm
  Berm
  A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm originates in the Middle Dutch and German berme and came into usage in English via French.- History :...
  
   or buried pit, to divert the force of the blast (typically upward, but sometimes to the side) in case the ammunition detonates
• Safety Distances are calculated between storage sites (magazines) and outside infrastructure to limit damage and set maximum holdings of net explosive content per site.
• A loading area (Transit Building or Area) for transferring stored ammunition to and from truck
  Truck
  A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
  
  s, ship
  Ship
  Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
  
  s, railway wagons
  Goods wagon
  Goods wagons are railway wagons that are used for the transportation of goods .- Development :At the beginning of the railway era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four-wheeled vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively small covered wagons, open wagons with side-boards,...
  
  , etc.
• A flooding system in large facilities to put out a fire or prevent an explosion in a magazine.
• An Ammunition Repair Facility or workshop will be found in many ammunition facilities. This facility is used for the repair, breakdown, inspection, and manufacture of ammunition held within or brought to the Depot.
• A Destruction Area (Demolition Range) used for the disposal by burning or detonation of defective, surplus, or obsolete ammunition and explosives.

Field sites

Ammunition dump as a term is more commonly ascribed to sites that store munitions "in the field" for imminent or immediate use. These are often targets for enemy artillery attack or air attack.

See also

• Armory (military)
  Armory (military)
  An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
  
  
• Central Ammunition Depot (disambiguation)
• Emergency management
  Emergency management
  Emergency management is the generic name of an interdisciplinary field dealing with the strategic organizational management processes used to protect critical assets of an organization from hazard risks that can cause events like disasters or catastrophes and to ensure the continuance of the...
  
  
• Royal Air Force munitions storage during World War II
  RAF munitions storage during WWII
  The logistics organizations of the Royal Air Force in World War II were No. 42 Group RAF and RAF Maintenance Command. As a result of a serious shortage of funds during the inter-war period and a weakness of policy the RAF was singularly ill-equipped to deal with the requirements of air warfare with...
  
  
• Royal Naval Armaments Depot
  Royal Naval Armaments Depot
  A Royal Naval Armament Depot was a group of armament depots dedicated to supplying the needs of the Royal Navy as well as the Royal Air Force, British Army and foreign/commonwealth governments; they were sister depots of Royal Naval Cordite Factories, Royal Naval Torpedo and Royal Naval Mine Depots...
  
  
• Supply depot
  Supply depot
  Supply depots are a type of military installation used by armies to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to army units....
  
  
• Weapon storage area
  Weapon storage area
  Weapon storage areas , also known as special ammunition storage , were extremely well guarded and well defended locations where United States and NATO nuclear weapons were stored during the Cold War era....
  
  

External links

Technical guidelines on the safe management of ammunition stockpiles

About old undersea ammunition dumping (and historical pollution). Rapport OSPAR sur les munitions immergées - (Map page 9 for Europe an OSPAR zone) Overview of Past Dumping at Sea of Chemical Weapons and Munitions in the OSPAR Maritime Area, 2005 / (pdf) Rapport OSPAR / Évaluation 1998 – 2006 (see page 62 and more..) Abstract of problèm of 35 000 t of ammunition dumped on Paardenmarkt bank (Belgium) Service historique du Ministère de la Défense