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Military Liaison Dept. 2913 teamed with NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation, Los Alamos National Lab, and Sandia organizations to close out in July 2007 a 40-plus-year stockpile lifetime for the B53(see photo at left). The B53’s life included a return from retirement to active status in the 1990s, followed by a decade of retired status with DoD. Disposition of B53 trainers was completed at the Naval School of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD) at Eglin Air Force Base in November 2007. Military Liaison continues to provide disposition instructions for remaining ancillary equipment. (2900, NNSA, OST, LANL, 2100, 12300) NW
Communications Systems Dept. 6452 delivered a vehicle-mounted wireless Tactical Network (TacNet) to NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation. TacNet, a mobile ad hoc communications network, provides personnel who are on the move with low-cost secure access to critical data without satellite links or fixed infrastructure. TacNet employs a line-of-sight mesh radio network, which is self-forming, self-healing, and multi-hopping. The radio network essentially becomes a privately owned, custom Internet with the ability to self-form on a second-to-second basis. (6400, 6300, Wind River, Arcom, Motorola) NW
Sandia developed the Pre-Installation Test and Check Out (PITCO) concept and created an operational laboratory at Sandia to replicate and test proposed security systems before installation at a site. Sandia designed and developed testers to replicate inputs from the actual sensors and entry-control devices and to stress the system to define operational limits. After testing, the hardware can be broken down, transported to Kings Bay Naval Base, and installed using the same configuration, saving time and money and creating higher confidence levels. (6400) HS&D
A Sandia-led team that included Pantex, NNSA, and Air Force personnel was able to quickly and definitively demonstrate that a set of warheads, where chain of custody requirements could not be verified, had not been compromised. The team’s readiness to rapidly deploy to a DoD location was made possible by prior studies establishing baseline gas signatures for all weapon types as a function of age. Comparison of this baseline-to-field results provided compelling evidence that no tampering or mishandling of the weapons occurred. (8200, 1800, 2900, B&W Pantex, NNSA) NW