Original Date: 04/06/1998
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

The Anniston Army Depot (ANAD), located in Anniston, Alabama, is a subordinate of the U.S. Army Tank- automotive and Armaments Command. ANAD performs depot level maintenance for combat tanks, tracked combat vehicles, small arms weapons, mortars, recoilless rifles, and optical and electronic fire control systems. ANAD also provides ammunition storage, renovation, modification and disposal.

ANAD is the only depot designated to perform depot level maintenance on heavy-tracked combat vehicles and their components. The Depot is designated as the Center of Technical Excellence for the M1 Abrams Tank, and is the designated candidate Depot for the repair of the M60, AVLB, M728, M88, and M551 combat vehicles.

Additionally, the maintenance and storage of conventional ammunition and missiles, as well as the storage of chemical munitions, are significant parts of the Depot's overall mission and capabilities. The Depot's mission consists of the receipt, maintenance, storage, and shipment of all types of conventional ammunition ranging from 22 caliber bullets to large 2,000 pound bombs. This mission supports the Industrial Operations Command and the Aviation and Missile Command, as well as a wide range of U.S. Navy and Air Force missions.

In March 1940, the War Department began planning construction of an Army Ordnance Depot in northeast Alabama. Construction began in February 1941 on the first 500 ammunition storage igloos, along with six standard magazines, 20 warehouses, and several administrative buildings. From an initial workforce of four in September 1941, the Depot employed 4,339 personnel by November 1942. The land area expanded from 10,400 acres to 15,000.

In 1952, the Depot was assigned a maintenance mission for the overhaul and repair of combat vehicles. This mission continued to expand until it covered the repair, overhaul, and modification of anti-aircraft and mobile artillery, fire control material, and the many and varied aspects of the tank rebuild program. By the mid-1950s, the missions were rapidly changing as the Army upgraded its older weaponry and developed new weapon systems. With the advent of the 1960s, the Depot was involved with the M47, M48, M48A1, and M48A2C tank programs. Reconditioning programs also included the M48A1, M56, M59, M42, M19, M47, and M48A1-D vehicles. The maintenance and storage of chemical munitions began in 1963, and will continue until all of the munitions are disposed of in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Overhaul of the M551 Sheridan tank commenced in the early 1970s. In 1975, the Depot was selected to overhaul and convert the M48A1 to the M48A5 model. In 1979, the Depot started the M60A1 to M60A3 conversion program. As the decade of the 1980s began, missile maintenance was an added mission, as was the M1 Abrams tank, the newest addition to the Army inventory. In August 1992, ANAD's General Supply Mission was assumed by the Defense Distribution Depot, Anniston, which became a major tenant organization on the Depot. This mission consists of the storage and worldwide distribution of combat vehicles, small arms, and associated spare parts and sub-assemblies; and the receipt, storage, and shipment of both serviceable and unserviceable commodities within the Army. On average, the Defense Distribution Depot, Anniston supply operation receives more than 107,000 line items and ships over 180,000 line items annually ranging from the largest of tanks, the M1 Abrams, to the smallest of calibrated parts.

Supply storage capacity is approximately 3.1 million gross square feet of covered space, and 1.8 million square feet of open storage. The combined total inventory of the Depot and Defense Distribution Depot, Anniston amounts to more than $7.6 billion and includes the shipping and receiving of over 400,000 tons of supplies, equipment, and ammunition, and the production of more than 600 combat vehicles annually.

In mid-April 1995, the Depot's Directorate of Chemical Operations was provisionally redesignated as the Anniston Chemical Activity under the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological Defense Command. The official transfer was effective October 1, 1995. Anniston Chemical Activity is a major tenant organization at ANAD. The Depot stores 7.2% of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, all scheduled to be destroyed by 2004. A new 31,000 square foot download/reconfiguration facility became operational in July 1995.

The following Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Actions affected ANAD: