Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

installation in

Charles County Charles County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. The ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Part of Naval Sea Systems Command ( NAVSEA), it is one of ten divisions of the

Naval Surface Warfare Center The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) is part of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) operated by the United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United Sta ...

(WFC). Its mission is to research, develop, test, evaluate, and produce

energetics Energetics is the study of energy, and may refer to: * Thermodynamics, branch of physics and chemistry that deals with energy, work and heat * Bioenergetics, field in biochemistry that concerns energy flow through living systems and cells * Energy ...

(i.e., explosives, propellants,

pyrotechnics Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, Pyrotechnic fastener, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, q ...

, reactive materials, related chemicals and fuels and their application in

propulsion Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

systems and ordnance). The

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

's presence in Indian Head dates to 1890, when the

Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959. History The Bureau of Ordnance was established as part ...

dispatched Robert B. Dashiell to establish a naval ordnance center. Dashiell served as Inspector in Charge of Ordnance there from 1890 to 1893. During World War I, the facility served as Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head. It is the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

(DoD)'s largest full-spectrum energetics facility. It employs more than 1,900 people, including more than 850 are scientists, engineers, and technicians that develop and sustain explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, high-energy chemicals, and their application to weapons. In addition, NSWC Indian Head has the WFC's largest concentration of Ph.Ds working in energetics, including the highest number of synthetic chemists, detonation physicists, and formulation scientists. The Division pursues basic research, applied technology, technology demonstration, prototyping, engineering development, acquisition, low-rate production, in-service engineering/mishaps and failure investigations, surveillance, and

demilitarization Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and milita ...

. As the

’s lead technical authority in the United States, NSWC Indian Head performs more than 60% of all Navy energetics workload, and has an unmatched record of 13 Navy-qualified explosives used in 47 Navy,

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, and

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

weapons. Seventy-five percent of all explosives deployed in U.S. weapons were developed by NSWC Indian Head. The main site for NSWC IHD is at Naval Support Facility Indian Head, a 3,500-acre

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

along the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

in southern Maryland, at the southern terminus of the

Indian Head Highway Maryland Route 210 (MD 210) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Indian Head Highway, the highway runs from Potomac Avenue in Indian Head north to the District of Columbia boundary in Forest Heights, where the highway ...

. It also has operations in

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census.Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and ...

; Colts Neck, New Jersey;

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

;

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, and Picatinny, New Jersey.

Capabilities

* Energetic Systems Research Development Test & Evaluation (RDT&E), Acquisition Engineering (AE), In-Service Engineering (ISE) and Sustainment * Energetic Systems and Material Scale-up, Manufacture and Manufacturing Technology * Cartridge Actuated Devices, Cutters, Sounding and Specialty Devices (RDT&E), AE, ISE, Sustainment, and Manufacturing * Weapon Simulators, Trainers, Training, Test and Diagnostic Equipment (RDT&E), AE, ISE, and Sustainment * Energetic Safety, Environmental Technology, Logistics, and PHST (Packaging, Handling, Storage and Transportation) RDT&E, AE, ISE and Sustainment * Conventional Ammunition Engineering and Sustainment * Gun Systems ISE, T&E, and

Integrated Logistics Support Integrated logistics support (ILS) is a technology in the system engineering to lower a product life cycle cost and decrease demand for logistics by the maintenance (technical), maintenance system optimization to ease the product support. Althoug ...

(ILS)

References

External links

Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center
{{Authority control Systems command installations of the United States Navy Buildings and structures in Charles County, Maryland Military Superfund sites Superfund sites in Maryland 1890 establishments in Maryland

Capabilities

References

Further reading

External links