Indian Head, Md. –
Expeditionary Exploitation Unit 1 (EXU-1) personnel are widely regarded as the Navy’s premier mobile explosive ordnance disposal expeditionary and technical exploitation unit. With the reception of the Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) from the Secretary of the Navy, Dec. 15, they can now say they have it in writing.
“I’m incredibly proud of the EXU-1 team and thankful for the recognition that this award provides to the command,” EXU-1 Commanding Officer Edgar Britt said. “We are a small unit and our people work hard in a challenging mission with high tempo and limited resources. For years, our team has provided an outsized contribution to the fleet and joint force and this award is an acknowledgement of that. We gratefully accept and will drive on towards new challenges.”
EXU-1 is an operationally deployable Type II, Echelon V command aligned under Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD). EXU-1 hosts a variety of platoons designed to collect, process, exploit and analyze improvised and conventional explosive ordnance, explosive hazards and other related components on land and sea to provide real-time targeting information and intelligence to explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) forces.
From January 2016 through May 2019, EXU-1 personnel demonstrated unparalleled success in providing expeditionary technical exploitation services to joint and naval forces in the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Africa Command, and U.S. Pacific Command Areas of Operation. EXU-1 exploited first-seen ordnance; identified new threat streams related to commercial technologies used in improvised weapons; provided national-level decision makers with verifiable identification of captured ordnance and improvised weapon systems; and conducted biometric, document and media exploitation to identify terrorist networks, individual bomb makers, and resource facilitators. During this period, EXU-1 also developed and exercised policy, doctrine, and tactics to advanced joint and naval technical exploitation capabilities.
The NUC states these efforts were successful due to the “extraordinary efforts of a small team of highly trained exploitation specialists, intelligence analysts, electronics technicians, logisticians and administrators who provided advanced technical capabilities and essential reach back support to forward-deployed units. By their truly distinctive accomplishments, unrelenting perseverance and unfailing devotion to duty, the officers, enlisted and civilian personnel of EXU-1 reflected great credit upon themselves and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. naval service.”
EXU-1 was commissioned in June 2018 as an Echelon V Command reporting to NSWC IHD Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Kraft, who serves as the Immediate Superior in Command to EXU-1.
“EXU-1 are experts in their field and their forward-deployed capabilities are a unique asset to the joint warfighter,” Kraft said. “I am proud of their accomplishments and this commendation reaffirms what our warfighters already know: they truly are the best in the business.”
NSWC IHD — a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy’s Science and Engineering Establishment — is the leader in ordnance, energetics, and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics research, development, testing, evaluation, in-service support, and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render safe, recover, exploit, and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.