INDIAN HEAD, Md. — Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division (NSWC IHD) Battle Lab is scheduled to host its inaugural Technology Exposition May 22-23 to showcase its explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and physical security capabilities. According to the Battle Lab Division Director Cathy Eaton, the two-day expo will ensure the warfighter is armed with the information needed about the latest technologies.
“In the end, our goal is to help the warfighter; to get the information the warfighter needs in order to develop their requirements, in order for their stakeholders and their program officers to buy the right equipment for them,” Eaton said. She believes the exposition is expected to afford NSWC IHD’s scientists and engineers the opportunity to promote their technology to a broader end user base.
Cristina Spencer, the EOD Technology Assessment Business Development lead, said the work conducted within the Battle Lab applies to a variety of end users. “Our goal is to attract end users and program personnel from across Department of Defense, the federal government, and law enforcement organizations to engage on ways to work together,” she said.
The expo starts at the NSWC IHD Stump Neck Annex, May 22. The following day the event will move to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington D.C. to coincide with activities for the U.S. observance of EOD Day on the Hill which honors U.S. Armed Forces members who risked their lives in disposing explosives. The United States Bomb Technician Association is sponsoring the EOD Day and has collaborated with the Battle Lab to use the opportunity to highlight its test capabilities including new robot test building and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) flight ability and explosive testing.
Twenty vendors will also demonstrate various novel capabilities that include UAV-based imaging, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality training, heads-up displays, standoff explosive detection, next generation X-ray, and aiming and communications integration.
Registration – via the NSWC IHD Command Website – is currently opened to military and the U.S. government, including federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies; it closes on May 8.
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, manufacturing and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render safe, recover, exploit and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.