Zurich, Switzerland, February 20, 1996 - A joint venture including ABB, the international electrical engineering company, has received a historic contract to demolish missile silos in the Republic of Kazakstan which previously housed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) of the former Soviet Union. The three-year, US$ 31 million contract was awarded by the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) to the 50/50 joint venture comprising ABB and Brown & Root, a division of Halliburton Company of the U.S.A.
The project is funded under the Strategic Offensive Arms Elimination (SOAE) program, which is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program. CTR assistance to Kazakstan, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus helps these countries dismantle weapons systems and deal with related problems. SOAE assistance helps Kazakstan meet the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1) to eliminate SS-18 ICBM silos and launch control facilities.
With the nuclear missiles already returned to Russia, the joint venture will eliminate 148 launch, control, testing and training silos at four missile fields in Kazakstan - Zhangis-Tobe, Derzhavinsk, Balapan and Leninsk. The project includes the elimination of the ICBM silos and launch control complexes, the salvage and disposal of all equipment and materials, the environmental clean-up of the sites and preparation for their return to civilian use.
The ABB partner in the joint venture is U.S.-based ABB SUSA, an engineering and construction management company specializing in infrastructure projects.
ABB SUSA is a member of ABB's Industrial and Building Systems segment, which employs over 89,000 people worldwide with orders in 1994 of over US$ 13 billion. The ABB Group employs approximately 212,000 people with orders in 1994 of nearly US$ 32 billion.
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