Broadband Obscurants for Visible and IR Countermeasures

Successful military operations require dominant control of the electromagnetic spectrum in the battlefield. Smokes and obscurants are becoming increasingly important to block the function of enemy optical tracking systems and sensors during day and night operations. Fielded munitions are optimized for either the visible or infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A single device that blocked the entire visible through far infrared (0.4-25m) would be of immediate value to the Army. During the Phase II research period we will develop a broadband obscurant material for blocking the visible and IR regions of the spectrum with a greater efficiency than is obtained using currently fielded munitions. Methods for optimizing the fill fraction and dispersibility of high extinction nanoscale obscurant formulations will be developed. Optimized formulations of bispectral obscurant fills will be processed and packed into test munitions for validation by the Army.