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Bombrini-Parodi-Delfino (better known as BPD), was a chemical company founded in 1912 by Giovanni Bombrini and Leopoldo Parodi-Delfino to produce gunpowder and explosives. Around its location in Colleferro (south of Rome) soon grew a small town attracting manpower from the nearby farms. After World War I, BPD expanded its activities on fertilizers and cement at nearby Segni (Società Calce e Cementi). In 1938 an explosion in the gunpowder plant killed 60 people.[1] After World War II, BPD diversified into metalworking, textiles and chemistry. The last remaining owner, the Parodi-Delfino family, entered a joint venture with SNIA-Viscosa in 1968.[2] SNIA's chemical division was thereafter named SNIA BPD until BPD was sold to Simmel Difesa, when it was renamed SNIA SpA.[3]
| Industry | Gunpowder and munitions |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 |
| Defunct | 1968 |
| Fate | Acquired by SNIA S.p.A. |
| Successor | SNIA-BPD |
| Headquarters | Colleferro, Italy |
BPD played an important role in developing missile solid fuels. In 1952, on behalf of the Aeronautica Militare, BPD patented a solid fuel based on nitro-glycerine and cellulose nitrate, the first step in developing experimental missiles on an industrial scale. The Aeronautica_Militare also contracted BPD to develop a meteorological missile, called the 160-70, employing two propulsion systems. The 160-70 was successfully employed in many launches between 1961 and 1963. In 1961 state and private companies merged; publicly owned Finmeccanica and the private firms BPD and FIAT were incorporated into the Società Generale Missilistica Italiana.
SNIA-BPD also developed a series of air-to-surface rockets in the 1980s as part of the Medusa rocket system. The rockets were of 51-mm, 81-mm, and 122-mm caliber.[4]
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