1.6 Hazard Class Detonator

A fully assembled munition must be classified as an Extremely Insensitive Detonating Substance (EIDS) (each article of explosive) to be assigned the Division 1.6 Hazard Classification. Using existing detonators, the highest hazard classification a fully assembled weapon can achieve is Division 1.2.3. This limitation is due to the sensitive explosive components necessary to start the initiation process. Although direct initiation of an EIDS using current state of the art Exploding Foil Initiator (EFI) technology has been demonstrated, it required a large, unweaponizable, amount of electrical energy. The development of a 1.6 Detonator would significantly reduce logistics cost, improve overall safety, and enable a 67% increase in igloo storage capacity of fully assembled weapons such as the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) and the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). The Phase II effort will build on the Phase I confinement experiments and KOWIN software analysis. These results indicate that a 1.6 Detonator may be achievable using confinement, geometry, and a correctly designed EFI. The main objective of this effort will be to produce a breadboard level fireset coupled with an initiator of a size that would be weaponizable and then perform limited testing of that system.