U.S. destroys VX nerve agent stockpile

The United States is on track to eliminate chemical weapons by 2023 after destroying the entire stockpile of VX nerve agent in April, the Department of Defense said.

"The Defense Department's Chemical Demilitarization Program reached a milestone in its effort to eliminate the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile and recovered chemical warfare materiel. The last M55 rocket containing venomous agent X, or VX nerve agent, was destroyed at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Kentucky on April 19, 2022," the statement said.

Following the move, the country is "on track with treaty compliance and international obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention to meet the 2023 stockpile elimination deadline," the Pentagon added.

The Pentagon started the destruction of VX M55 rockets at the Blue Grass Army Depot in July 2021. Some 18,000 rockets were "disassembled and drained" of the chemical agent, the department said.