Full materiel release means the Army has tested and evaluated the warhead and found it to be safe, suitable for operations and logistically supportable, the company said in a statement.

During the initial development phases, ATK pumped out more than 12,000 of the cartridges for the Army.

The M1061 increases safety of users, the company said.

Its fragmentation technology produced increased wide-area effects compared to conventional warheads.

The M1061 is a 60mm high-explosive cartridge developed by Orbital, Saab Bofors Dynamics Switzerland and the Army's Armament Research, Development and engineering Center.

The program's goal aimed to increased 60mm mortar effectiveness while improving its insensitive munitions aspects.

BAE Systems building new facility at ammo plant
Kingsport, Tenn. (UPI) Oct 28, 2016 - A facility to manufacture insensitive munitions at an Army ammunition plant in Tennessee is to be built by BAE Systems.

Construction of the Insensitive Munitions Weak Nitric Acid Recovery Facility at Holston Army Ammunition Plant is a major part of a multi-year effort to increase the production capacity of Insensitive Munition eXplosives, or IMX, which are designed to be more stable and safer to handle than conventional munitions.

The plant is operated by BAE Systems, which will conduct the construction under a contract modification worth $146.5 million.

"The construction of this facility is strategic in eliminating current IMX capacity constraints," said Reed McPeak, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, Inc. "Once operational, it will position BAE Systems and the Holston plant to meet current and future IMX demands, both domestically and abroad."

The new facility will recycle spent nitric acid that is generated at the plant and provide strong nitric acid to produce a range of IMX fills, BAE Systems said.

Construction at the ammunition plant begins this month and will be completed in 2019.