Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) is a United States Navy installation in Charles County, Maryland. Part of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), it is one of ten divisions of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (WFC). Its mission is to research, develop, test, evaluate, and produce energetics (i.e., explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, reactive materials, related chemicals and fuels and their application in propulsion systems and ordnance).

Naval Support Facility Indian Head
Part of Naval Support Activity South Potomac
Near Indian Head, Maryland in the United States
An aerial view of NSF Indian Head
Indian Head Location in Maryland Show map of Maryland Indian Head Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates	38°35′18.88″N 77°10′9.12″W
Type	Naval Support Facility and military proving ground
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Navy
Controlled by	Naval District Washington
Condition	Operational
Website	Official website
Site history
Built	1890 (1890)
In use	1890 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Captain Steve Duba
Garrison	Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division

The U.S. Navy's presence in Indian Head dates to 1890, when the Bureau of Ordnance dispatched Robert B. Dashiell to establish a naval ordnance center.^[1] Dashiell served as Inspector in Charge of Ordnance there from 1890 to 1893.^[2] During World War I, the facility served as Naval Proving Ground, Indian Head.

It is the United States Department of Defense (DoD)'s largest full-spectrum energetics facility. It employs more than 1,900 people,^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

As the U.S. Navy’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, Air Force, and Marine Corps 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 along the Potomac River in southern Maryland, at the southern terminus of the Indian Head Highway. It also has operations in McAlester, Oklahoma; Colts Neck, New Jersey; Ogden, Utah; Louisville, Kentucky, 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 (ILS)

References

1. Hoyer, Steny H. (September 25, 2015). "Hoyer celebrates 125th anniversary of Naval Support Facility Indian Head". Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2016 – via Wayback Machine.
2. Carlisle, Rodney (2002). Powder and propellants : energetic materials at Indian Head, Maryland, 1890-2001 (2nd ed.). Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press. p. 121. ISBN 9781574411492. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
3. "NSWC Indian Head Division Employees Recognized at Command Honorary Awards Ceremony". Naval Sea Systems Command. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
4. Coordinator, Site (2022-07-10). "NSWC IHD Holds NEST Collaboration Event At CSM Velocity Center". The BayNet. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
5. "The Dangerous Depletion of U.S. Weapon Arsenals". U.S. Naval Institute. 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2022-09-29.

Further reading

• "Indian Head Proving Ground" (PDF). The New York Times. April 15, 1894. p. 20 – via timesmachine.nytimes.com.

External links

• Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center