Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) located in Rocket Center, West Virginia, is a diverse industrial complex employing some 1,000 people across 1,628 acres (6.59 km2). The facility is a member of the Federal Laboratory Consortium and is operated by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) under contract with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
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The ABL facility is a manufacturer of advanced composite structures for the F-22 Raptor and other aerospace projects. ATK also operates 6 of 11 known advanced fiber placement machines. In addition the site produces about 80 military products, including: 30mm shells for Apache helicopters, training grenades, fuze-proximity sensors, mortars and warheads, and tank ammunition.
Also on the site is the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex and the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing. At the Robert C. Byrd Complex on the hill companies have rented space to do secure research, among them National Interest Security Company who is digitizing data on hurricane cleanup, avian influenza, and weather records.
ABL was established in 1944 on the site of a former ammunitions plant on land owned by the Army. After World War II, the plant was transferred to the Office of Scientific Research and Development and was involved in building propulsion devices and engines for the solid-rocket industry.
Later in the decade, ownership of ABL was transferred to the Navy office of Naval Sea Systems Command. In 1956 when it was producing Altair rocket stages for Vanguard rockets, ABL was, "A subsidiary of the Navy operated by the Hercules Powder Company."[1] The Navy now contracts out operation of the facility to ATK (Alliant Techsystems), a $3.4 billion corporation based in Edina, Minnesota.
In 1998, ATK's Conventional Munitions Group was selected by Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems to produce the fiber-placed composite pivot shaft assembly for the F-22 Raptor air-dominance fighter. Work on the production program is performed at Alliant's automated fiber placement production facility at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory. The fiber placement facility was constructed as part of a $177 million renovation and restoration program funded by the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), which owns the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory. [2]
It is said by many of the local community members that there is an underground tunnel that runs from the site to a location where a Kelly Springfield Tires factory once stood in Cumberland, Maryland, making the supposed tunnel several miles long. The purported reason for this tunnel was for a means of concealed transportation during WWII, where the factory was supposedly converted temporarily to a factory for war related production.
It is also said that the complex extends well into the ground as well as into the adjacent mountain, possibly explaining the purchase of much otherwise unusable land on the mountain.
When asked of the devastation resulting from an explosion of the entire plant, much of the community would say that the effects of such an occurrence would be catastrophic, on the level of a miniature atomic bomb, which is very unlikely.
As for the ecological impact, it is believed the facility contributes greatly to the pollution of the bordering Potomac River. While this is unsupported, the company does have numerous runoff sites. Also, the groundwater in the surrounding community has been verified to contain many contaminates, although actions have since been taken to reduce these contaminates, and are part of a constant monitoring process.[3]
Many of these claims cannot be verified. There are many perceived positive and negative contributions to the local community.
The following companies are located on the ABL site:
| Company | Description | Logo | |
| Alliant Techsystems | Defense and Aerospace | ||
| Robert C. Byrd Institute | |||
| National Interest Security Company | Information Management, Technology, and Strategic Consulting |