A Navy admiral once described our military value with this statement: "Without ordnance [energetic systems], the Navy is just an expensive cruiseline."

What makes NSWC IHD a leader in the Navy’s Energetics Enterprise?

• We are a hub for solving energetics problems, working closely with the other service branches, public and private academic institutions, government and private sector laboratories, and the research agencies of allied nations.
• We have the ability to rapidly scale-up and transition to manufacture energetic materials necessary for military conflicts and other needs when private sources are unavailable.
• We are capable of low-rate initial production for research needs or before private sources are available to fulfill defense requirements.
• We are the sole producer of certain energetics products.
• We are a smart buyer for the government, saving procurement dollars.
• We maintain cutting-edge research and development programs in explosives, propellants, manufacturing technology and weapons containers, and ordnance handling equipment among many other research and development initiatives.

A leader in the Energetics Enterprise. On any given day at  NSWC IHD…

• Chemists are inventing ingredients for new high–energy propellant and explosive formulations.
• Award-winning physicists are testing new generations of energetic materials that perform as required in specific applications while protecting the safety of U.S. service personnel and ships, aircraft, and military hardware.
• Engineers are developing and perfecting new manufacturing technologies that enable the private sector to produce explosives and propellants that are safer, less expensive, and have less impact on the environment.
• Experienced explosive operators and highly-skilled engineering technicians are meeting urgent fleet requirements by manufacturing rocket catapults that Naval aviators rely on to safely eject from aircraft.
• Mechanical and electrical engineers are fabricating microelectromechanical devices, miniature mechanical sensors, and integrated processing circuits loaded onto a single silicon chip, creating new opportunities to monitor and control the battlefield.