This improves the safety of storing, transporting, and disposing of the weapon.
These react to form the intended agent which is then aerosolized and distributed by a bursting charge.
In the M687, methylphosphonyl difluoride (military name: DF, a Schedule 1 chemical) and a mixture of two agents are held in chambers within the munition, separated by a partition.
When the weapon is fired, acceleration causes the partition to break, and the precursors are mixed by the rotation of the munition in flight, producing sarin nerve agent.
[citation needed] The director of a non-proliferation research program of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey has stated that the assassination of Kim Jong-nam due to poisoning with VX was likely carried out with a binary version of the agent, since VX fumes would otherwise have killed the suspected attackers.